Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) has pressed pause on new hires within its artificial intelligence division after months of aggressive recruitment, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Wednesday.
The freeze reportedly began last week and coincides with a broader shake-up of the company’s AI operations. In addition to halting external hiring, the restructuring restricts current staff from transferring between internal AI teams. No timeline has been given for when, or if, the pause will be lifted.
Shares of Meta dipped 0.3% in premarket trading on Thursday morning as investors digested the news.
Earlier this year, Meta had embarked on a hiring blitz, recruiting more than 50 AI specialists and offering lavish compensation packages—sometimes in the nine-figure range—to lure talent from competitors such as OpenAI. The company was also said to have used “reverse acquihires,” absorbing startup talent without fully acquiring the firms. Many of these hires were funneled into a new unit under CEO Mark Zuckerberg focused on building AI superintelligence.
As part of the latest restructuring, Meta will divide its AI business into four distinct groups, the Journal reported. One unit, TBD Lab, will spearhead superintelligence efforts; another will focus on applied AI projects; a third will concentrate on infrastructure; and a fourth—Fundamental AI Research—will pursue longer-term innovation and research. Notably, the latter was left unchanged by the shake-up.
The changes mark the latest in a series of overhauls for Meta’s AI strategy this year. Zuckerberg has taken a hands-on role, personally recruiting researchers from leading tech firms including Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), and OpenAI, as well as executives from startups like Scale. Reports even suggested he offered as much as $1.5 billion to Andrew Tulloch, co-founder of Thinking Machines Lab, to bring him aboard.
Meta is among the so-called “AI hyperscalers,” a group of tech giants collectively spending hundreds of billions of dollars to develop advanced models and expand data center infrastructure. The company alone has earmarked roughly $72 billion for AI investments in 2025.
But this heavy spending spree has drawn investor pushback. Concerns are mounting that soaring capital outlays, coupled with generous stock-based compensation, could weigh on long-term returns. Adding to investor unease, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology report published this week found that 95% of AI startups remain unprofitable. Meta’s stock has slipped nearly 5% this week as doubts over the sustainability of AI spending intensify.
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