Meta asks former managers in Applied AI unit to return to leadership roles

According to four sources, Meta is offering a voluntary pathway for certain Applied AI staff to re-enter management roles after being reassigned as individual contributors. Applied AI, a newly formed unit focused on training AI models, absorbed roughly 7,000 workers when it launched earlier this year, including some who had previously held managerial positions. The company’s leadership has not provided a comment on the program.

This move partially reverses Meta’s earlier strategy of cutting middle management and favoring smaller, flatter teams, a shift driven by CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s advocacy for lean, startup-like structures as AI workloads grow. The firm also laid off about 10% of its workforce this year, with managers being a primary target of those cuts. Earlier criticism led Meta to allow some employees reassigned to Applied AI to leave the unit.