- Meta is cutting 600 jobs in its AI division, affecting various teams including FAIR and infrastructure
- An Indian AI research scientist hired in February was laid off after nine months at Meta's Seattle office
- The scientist holds an H-1B visa requiring new employer sponsorship to work in the US
On Wednesday, Meta announced plans to lay off thousands of employees as part of ongoing reductions. Among those impacted is an Indian woman working in Meta's AI division in Seattle. Notably, she was hired as a research scientist by Meta in February this year, but was laid off after nine months.
She shared her situation on X, expressing interest in exploring new career opportunities and highlighting her expertise in enhancing language model training using reward models and automated evaluation systems. She also shared that she holds an H-1B visa, meaning any new employer must provide visa sponsorship.
The H-1B visa permits highly skilled professionals to live and work in the US for an initial period of up to three years, with the option to extend for an additional three years.
The woman mentioned that she was still listed internally at Meta, as she had a two-month window to transition to another team. She also expressed a preference to remain in the Greater Seattle area, if possible. Her post quickly attracted numerous responses from founders and CEOs of various small AI startups.
Meta AI Layoffs
Meta recently announced it would cut 600 positions across its AI department, following a memo from Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang. The layoffs impact areas such as AI infrastructure, the Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research Unit (FAIR), and product teams.
"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," wrote Wang in a memo to coworkers.
Meta has been ramping up its AI initiatives to keep pace with competitors like OpenAI and Google, investing heavily in infrastructure and top-tier talent. After the recent layoffs, the headcount at its Superintelligence Labs has dropped to just under 3,000. Impacted employees were informed their official termination date is November 21 and are currently in a "non-working notice period."
"During this time, your internal access will be removed and you do not need to do any additional work for Meta. You may use this time to search for another role at Meta," the memo said.
Meta is providing 16 weeks of severance pay, along with an extra two weeks for each full year of service, after deducting the notice period.
