Meta Platforms reduced its global workforce by 8,000 jobs in May, or about 10% of the company, while expanding its Applied AI unit, where 6,500 employees have been drafted since April with no application process. At a recent livestreamed Meta meeting open to thousands of employees, an employee ranted about "being the company's b*tch" and asked presenters to locate a specific Meta AI executive and "tell him that he's a piece of sh*t." The incident reflects growing tensions inside Meta's AI unit, established in March. Multiple Meta employees told Wired about dissatisfaction with the Applied AI division, with one employee stating, "It's literally the gulag," adding, "You have zero purpose in life all of a sudden." Another employee stressed that "almost all" employees seem unhappy and find the work "soul-crushing." Meta began recording US employees' clicks and keystrokes to generate AI training data, and more than 1,600 workers signed a petition urging management to stop, though Meta only allowed employees to pause data collection for up to 30 minutes. Mark Zuckerberg highlighted in a Friday internal memo that mistakes are inevitable while reiterating his pledge of no more mass layoffs in 2026.