Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg secretly spearheaded "Project OT" (Organizational Transformation), a plan to replace thousands of employees' jobs with AI, with some teams facing up to 60% layoffs. The plan was formulated in January this year, with the first round of layoffs originally scheduled for May. However, Zuckerberg urgently halted the most aggressive layoff proposals on the evening of May 19, after which Meta only laid off approximately 8,000 employees (about 10% of the total workforce) and canceled the planned second round of layoffs.

Details of the plan were disclosed on August 26 in a special report by Reuters, based on internal documents and over 20 interviews. Internal data showed that Meta's AI tools led to a 220% year-over-year increase in code changes, but user-visible new features or upgrades only grew by 36%, indicating a gap between AI investment and actual output. Additionally, Meta introduced keyboard and mouse tracking software on U.S. employee devices to train AI, sparking strong dissatisfaction among employees.

Zuckerberg has confirmed the existence of Project OT, describing it as a year-long cost-cutting and team restructuring project. Although the aggressive layoff plan was halted, Meta is still reorganizing around the concept of AI replacing human work, and the risk of AI displacing employees remains.