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    Meta is axing 600 roles across its AI division

    (www.theverge.com)
    492 points Lionga | 13 comments | 22 Oct 25 16:44 UTC | HN request time: 1.141s | source | bottom
    1. mikert89 ◴[22 Oct 25 17:21 UTC] No.45672265[source]▶
    Guaranteed this is them cleaning out the old guard, its either axe them, or watch a brutal political game between legacy employees and new LLM AI talent
    replies(4): >>45672725 #>>45672836 #>>45674203 #>>45674865 #
    2. bartread ◴[22 Oct 25 17:52 UTC] No.45672725[source]▶
    That was my reading too. Legacy team maybe not adding enough value and acting as a potential distraction or drag on the new team.
    replies(1): >>45677419 #
    3. djmips ◴[22 Oct 25 17:59 UTC] No.45672836[source]▶
    Fortunately there's probably a lot of opportunity for those 600 out there.
    replies(2): >>45673064 #>>45675382 #
    4. sharkjacobs ◴[22 Oct 25 18:16 UTC] No.45673064[source]▶
    Yeah, it's a hot job market right now
    replies(1): >>45673483 #
    5. brcmthrowaway ◴[22 Oct 25 18:49 UTC] No.45673483{3}[source]▶
    For AI only.
    6. dude250711 ◴[22 Oct 25 19:45 UTC] No.45674203[source]▶
    > ...talent

    More like "scientific research regurgitators".

    7. didip ◴[22 Oct 25 20:39 UTC] No.45674865[source]▶
    This is my read too. Massive culling to bring in Alexandr Wang's people.
    8. roadside_picnic ◴[22 Oct 25 21:27 UTC] No.45675382[source]▶
    While ex-FAIR people should have little problem finding a job, the market for paying research folks that level of TC and working on ambitious research projects, unless you're in a very-LLM specific space, is absolutely shrinking.

    It certainly feels like the end of an era to see Meta increasingly diminishing the role of FAIR. Strategically it might not have been ideal for LeCun to be so openly and aggressively critical of the this current generation of AI (even if history will very likely prove him correct).

    replies(2): >>45675519 #>>45676585 #
    9. mikert89 ◴[22 Oct 25 21:41 UTC] No.45675519{3}[source]▶
    Very very few positions for these people to go to. Also, their skills were made obsolete by LLMs.
    10. B-Con ◴[22 Oct 25 23:47 UTC] No.45676585{3}[source]▶
    FAIR?

    FAANG typo, or is there a new acronym?

    replies(1): >>45676613 #
    11. dragonwriter ◴[22 Oct 25 23:51 UTC] No.45676613{4}[source]▶
    > FAIR?

    > FAANG typo, or is there a new acronym?

    FAIR is the Meta AI unit (Fundamental AI Research) at issue, as spelled out in the second sentence of the article.

    replies(1): >>45677177 #
    12. jeffhwang ◴[23 Oct 25 01:25 UTC] No.45677177{5}[source]▶
    Used to be "Facebook AI Research" before company changed name from FB to Meta
    13. ainch ◴[23 Oct 25 02:12 UTC] No.45677419[source]▶
    Cutting people at FAIR is a real shame though - great models like DINO and SAM have had massive positive impact - hopefully that work doesn't slow in favour of LLM-only development at MSL.