Zuckerberg Says AI Won't Destroy Jobs, After Already Cutting 10,000 Of Them

Meta just cut thousands of jobs and redirected staff toward AI. Its CEO says technology will create more work than it destroys. Not everyone in Silicon Valley agrees.

Mark Zuckerberg says AI empowers people.

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Key points generated by AI, verified by newsroom

• Meta cut 8,000 jobs, redirecting staff to AI projects.
• Zuckerberg believes AI empowers workers, not inevitably destroys jobs.
• Meta invests billions in AI; CFO questions ideal headcount.

Days after Meta cut roughly 10% of its workforce, CEO Mark Zuckerberg is pushing back on the idea that AI will inevitably destroy jobs. Speaking publicly, he argued that the outcome depends on how companies choose to use the technology. His comments come at a time when Meta is restructuring heavily, scrapping thousands of open roles and redirecting staff toward AI projects, even as its leadership acknowledges uncertainty about the company's ideal headcount going forward.

How Meta's Layoffs Actually Played Out

As reported by Business Insider, notifications went out in three waves on May 20, starting at 4 AM local time, first across Asia, then Europe, then the Americas. The cuts totalled 8,000 roles, primarily across integrity, cybersecurity, and content design teams. Another 7,000 employees are being moved to AI-focused roles, and around 6,000 open positions have been scrapped entirely.

US employees are receiving 16 weeks of severance, plus two additional weeks for every year worked, along with 18 months of COBRA health coverage. Meta's latest 10-Q filing put its headcount at 77,986 as of April, up 1% year-over-year. CFO Susan Li, speaking on the Q1 earnings call on April 29, told analysts she no longer knows what Meta's ideal headcount looks like. 

The company is spending between $125 billion and $145 billion on capital expenditure this year, mostly directed at data centres, custom chips, and model training. Meta's stock dropped 6% following that earnings call.

What Zuckerberg And Other Tech CEOs Are Saying About AI & Jobs

Zuckerberg said during Complex's Idea Generation interview: "If you focus on empowering people and making people more productive and that happens at a faster rate than companies get better at automating things, then in theory there should be more jobs in the future, not less."

That view sits at odds with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who has warned that up to half of entry-level white-collar jobs could disappear within five years, a prediction he has not walked back. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has taken a softer position, saying fears of a "job apocalypse" have not materialised.