Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth admits the company’s AI reorganization was ‘terrible’

I did dead A “terrible” act. Rolling The company will create a new artificial intelligence department and will aim to “revive” a more cheerful internal culture through better communication, career growth and even snacks, a senior executive told employees Monday in an internal post seen by WIRED.

The comments made by Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s chief technology officer, come on the heels of a report published by WIRED last week that revealed Widespread discontent Within the Applied Artificial Intelligence Engineering Unit. Meta formed a division of about 6,500 engineers and product managers in March to work on projects aimed at improving the company’s generative AI models. But what the workers described as the menial nature of the work led one to describe it as “gulag.”

“We have undermined your confidence that your expertise and specific contribution will be valued, that you will grow and advance your career, and that this will be a place where you can have a real impact,” Bosworth wrote. “We overhauled the management structure that provided stability while rapid changes in strategy, including the boom-and-bust cycle in hiring, left entire teams in the lurch.”

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Disturbances within the AI ​​team are part of a Wider downward swing Morale is dead in the wake of mass layoffs, worker policing, and other concerns among employees. In recent days, several executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, have posted internal messages acknowledging employees’ feelings and pledging changes to address them.

In the lengthy memo, Bosworth, long seen as a Zuckerberg loyalist, said employees would receive more personal attention in the future. He wrote that metaplans cap managers at about 20 direct reports each, and try to limit the number of times employees switch to new managers as part of restructurings. He also said that Meta’s leadership will be committed to better articulating the rationale behind strategic shifts and organizational changes. Managers will focus primarily on management and secondarily on independent work, and employees will have access to “AI training” tools if they decide to use them.

In response to a comment on his memo about the Applied AI team, Bosworth wrote: “We clearly did a terrible job of explaining the vision, giving people a clear picture of how we can support them and their careers in this transformation, and painting a picture of how this will change over time.”

In a separate post from late last Friday seen by WIRED, Maher Saba, the vice president who leads the Applied AI team, told employees who were forced to join that they would now be allowed to take on other roles within Meta if they were able to secure them. “Moving forward, we are returning to business as usual and giving people the ability to apply to roles that interest them,” Saba wrote.

Bosworth stressed that Meta does not support the belief that AI will completely replace AI workers. However, he said, “We should heed the adage: ‘AI won’t take your job but someone who knows AI might.'” He added that there will be “difficult trade-offs for a while” about how much compute is available for different teams to leverage AI tools. “We will do our best to be transparent and invest responsibly to mitigate bottlenecks,” he wrote, while also encouraging employees to escalate any issues.

In an effort to boost morale, Bosworth pledged to make the company a “fun and enjoyable” place to work. Meta will “improve micro-kitchens”, which are breakout areas within offices for serving snacks and drinks, and increase travel budgets as well as spending on social events, so employees can spend time together in person.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.