Meta laid off thousands of workers, started monitoring employees' computers, assigned people to train the AI that may replace them, and then discovered the real missing ingredient: snacks.
Meta CTO Andrew "Boz" Bosworth told employees morale is "probably one of the worst it's ever been" and that the "vibes are off." The company's answer includes bigger snack, travel, and events budgets, which have strong Severance melon-bar energy for a workplace where employees say they have been "drafted" into AI training work.
So far in 2026, Meta staff have had plenty to grumble about. The company laid off 8,000 jobs in April and began tracking workers' computer activity. The monitoring is so that the company can train its AI models, raising the awkward issue that staff could be helping the very tech that could wind up replacing them.
Aside from the layoffs and 1984-esque surveillance, Meta has assigned roughly 10% of its workforce to train its AI models full-time, which is largely mind-numbing data-labeling. The Applied AI engineering unit comprises roughly 6,500 engineers and product managers. Workers liken it to being "drafted" — one even went so far as to describe it as a "gulag."
The changes led to Boz declaring that the "vibes are off" in the company during the leaked call that was held on June 2. The CTO hosts a weekly session known as "Tuesdays with Boz."
PetaPixel
Welcome to the dark side. We have snacks, surveillance, and vibes that are off.
Previously:
• Meta is not sorry it built the spyware, just sorry you noticed
• After Friday, Meta can read your Instagram DMs again
• Conservative activist sues Meta over AI's false claims about him
