Meta is axing 600 roles across its AI division • Hacker News Board

Re: Meta is axing 600 roles across its AI division

#301

Post by redox99 » Wed, Oct 22, 2025, 9:47 PM UTC

deanc wrote: post #107

Meta is fumbling hard. Winning the AI race is about marketing at this point - the difference between the models is negligible. Chat GPT is the one on everyone's lips outside of technology, and in the media. They have a platform by which to push some kind of assistant but where is it? I log into facebook and it's buried in the sidebar as Meta AI. Why aren't they shoving it down my throat? They have a huge platform of…

If you actually try Llama you'll see it's significantly worse than the top dogs.

Re: Meta is axing 600 roles across its AI division

#302

Post by gtowey » Wed, Oct 22, 2025, 9:49 PM UTC

overfeed wrote: post #206

gtowey wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OpenAI marketing and hype feels like things we've seen before. Just like Adam Neuman who was reinventing the concept of workspaces as a community. Just like Elizabeth Holmns who was revolutionizing blood testing. Just like SBF who pioneered a new model for altruistic capitalism. And so many others. Beware of prophets selling you on the idea that they alone can do something nobody has ever done before.

> Just like SBF who pioneered a new model for autistic capitalism Oh, wow. I think you meant altruistic capitalism.

Lol, yes. Although the unintentional slight is somehow hilariously appropriate.

Re: Meta is axing 600 roles across its AI division

#303

Post by bsenftner » Wed, Oct 22, 2025, 9:50 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #3

Because the AI works so well, or because it doesn't? > ”By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact,” Wang writes in a memo seen by Axios. That's kinda wild. I'm kinda shocked they put it in writing.

Sounds to me like the classic everywhere communications problems: 1) people don't listen, 2) people can't explain in general terms, 3) while 2 is taking place, so is 1, and as that triggers repeat after repeat, people frustrate and give up.

Re: Meta is axing 600 roles across its AI division

#304

Post by kridsdale1 » Wed, Oct 22, 2025, 9:50 PM UTC

solid_fuel wrote: post #293

dekhn wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm seeing a lot of frustration at the leadership level about product velocity- and much of the frustration is pointed at internal gatekeepers who mainly seem to say no to product releases. My leadership is currently promoting "better to ask forgiveness", or put another way: "a bias towards action". There are definitely limits on this, but it's been helpful when dealing with various internal negotiations. I don't spe…

> pointed at internal gatekeepers who mainly seem to say no to product releases. I've never observed facebook to be conservative about shipping broken or harmful products, the releases must be pretty bad if internal stakeholders are pushing back. I'm sure there will be no harmful consequences from leadership ignoring these internal warnings.

When I worked there (7 years), the gatekeeper effect was real. It didn’t stop broken or harmful, but it did stop revenue neutral or revenue negative. Even if we had proven the product was positive to user wellbeing or brand-favorability.

Yes I’m still bitter.

Re: Meta is axing 600 roles across its AI division

#305

Post by mrguyorama » Wed, Oct 22, 2025, 9:52 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #66

jsheard wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's coming any day now! I'm loving this juxtaposition of companies hyping up imminent epoch-defining AGI, while simultaneously dedicating resources to building TikTok But Worse or adding erotica support to ChatGPT. Interesting priorities.

> adding erotica support to ChatGPT They really need that business model.

How does ChatGPT intend to escape the ire of the christian fundamentalists that have been killing porn on the internet for the past decade?

Re: Meta is axing 600 roles across its AI division

#306

Post by 0cf8612b2e1e » Wed, Oct 22, 2025, 9:52 PM UTC

Herring wrote: post #103

0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We’re not talking about an overworked nurse. Same Facebook-AI-researcher-pay is likely an eye watering amount of money

^ American crab mentality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_mentality

Layoffs are everywhere. Millions of employees have had to do more without any change in compensation. My own team has decreased from six to two, but I am not seeing any increased pay for being more load bearing.

I will always pour one out for the fellow wage slave (more for the people who suddenly lost a job), but I am admittedly a bit less sympathetic to those with in demand skills receiving top tier compensation. More for the teachers, nurses, DOGEd FDA employees, whatever who was only ever taking in a more modest wage, but is continually expected to do more with less.

Management cutting headcount and making the drones work harder is not a unique story to Facebook.

Re: Meta is axing 600 roles across its AI division

#307

Post by hinkley » Wed, Oct 22, 2025, 9:55 PM UTC

InsideOutSanta wrote: post #203

fragmede wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sometimes they manage to meld it into one goal, because money is power.

And the more power you have, the easier it gets to make more money, so it's self-reinforcing.

See also certain orange people not sweating bankruptcy because they can just go get more money.

Re: Meta is axing 600 roles across its AI division

#308

Post by wkat4242 » Wed, Oct 22, 2025, 9:55 PM UTC

lkrubner wrote: post #194

Rebuff5007 wrote: post #126

From a quick online search: - OpenAI's mission is to build safe AI, and ensure AI's benefits are as widely and evenly distributed as possible. - Google's mission is to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. - Meta's mission is to build the future of human connection and the technology that makes it possible. Lets just take these three companies, and their self-defined mission…

Meta's mission is to build the future of human connection -- this totally makes sense if you assume they believe that the future of human connection is with an AI friend. That https://character.ai is so enormously popular with people who are under the age of 25 suggests that this is the future. And Meta is certainly looking at https://character.ai with great interest, but also with concern. https://character.ai repre…

They copied character.ai in the first year. Remember those snoop Dogg personas?

They have the tech, if they still fail it's just marketing.

Re: Meta is axing 600 roles across its AI division

#309

Post by kridsdale1 » Wed, Oct 22, 2025, 9:56 PM UTC

matwood wrote: post #133

ceejayoz wrote: post #3

Because the AI works so well, or because it doesn't? > ”By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact,” Wang writes in a memo seen by Axios. That's kinda wild. I'm kinda shocked they put it in writing.

> By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision This was noted a long time ago by Brooks in the Mythical Man-Month. Every person added to a team increases the communication overhead (n(n − 1)/2). Teams should only be as big as they absolutely need to be. I've always been amazed that big tech gets anything done at all. The other option would be to have certain people just do…

A solution to that scaling problem is to have most of the n not actually doing anything. Sitting there and getting paid but adding no value or overhead.

Re: Meta is axing 600 roles across its AI division

#310

Post by hinkley » Wed, Oct 22, 2025, 9:58 PM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #189

hinkley wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes they mix it up and go for money and power.

sometimes they manage to meld it into one goal, because money is power.

The nouveau riche find out this is definitely not at all true the hard way. Easy come, easy go. If your children remain rich, they may get some respect. Your grandchildren will be powerful. You’ll be a crass old coot.