Meta is preparing one of its most dramatic restructurings since it rebranded from Facebook, with plans to cut about 1,500 employees from its Reality Labs division while Mark Zuckerberg pours more capital and talent into artificial intelligence. The move signals a decisive shift away from the metaverse-first vision that defined the company’s last few years and toward AI systems, devices, and infrastructure that executives now see as the next growth engine. For workers inside Reality Labs and for the broader tech industry, the layoffs crystallize how quickly corporate priorities can flip when a new platform race heats up.
The scale of the Reality Labs cuts
Meta is set to cut nearly 1,500 jobs from Reality Labs, a unit that once sat at the center of Zuckerberg’s metaverse ambitions and is now being reshaped to support AI hardware and infrastructure. Reporting indicates that about 1,500 employees are on the chopping block, a figure that aligns with separate accounts describing Meta as “set to cut nearly 1,500 jobs” from the same division. Another breakdown of the restructuring notes that at least 1,000 roles have already been eliminated as part of a confirmed wave of cuts, suggesting the final tally could climb as Meta completes the process.
Executives have framed the reductions as a targeted reset rather than a retreat from hardware altogether, but the numbers are stark for a group that once symbolized the company’s future. One account describes how Meta is set as part of a “significant shift” toward AI and large scale data center investments, underscoring that this is not a marginal trimming but a structural change. Another analysis puts the restructuring in percentage terms, saying Meta reportedly plans to eliminate 10 percent of the jobs in its Reality Labs unit, a figure echoed in coverage that Meta is cutting Reality Labs, which gives investors and employees a clearer sense of the division’s downsizing.
From metaverse dream to AI devices
The layoffs land as Meta pivots sharply from its original metaverse narrative toward AI powered devices and infrastructure, a shift that has been building for more than a year. Earlier coverage of the restructuring describes how Meta begins job cuts as it shifts from metaverse projects to AI devices, with one account summarizing the change under the banner that Meta Begins Job as it shifts from metaverse to AI devices. That framing captures the core reality: the company is not abandoning hardware, it is redirecting it toward products that embed generative models and assistants into glasses, wearables, and other everyday objects.
Inside Reality Labs, that means VR headsets and some metaverse software projects are losing ground to smart glasses, wristband computing, and AI centric wearables. One report notes that Meta is now investing more in wearables as part of the same restructuring that cut at least 1,000 jobs, describing a strategy that favors devices which can host AI agents over the fully immersive headsets the company originally envisioned. Another analysis of the shift says Meta is moving focus from metaverse to next generation AI, summarizing the plan as Meta To Reportedly Slash 10 percent of Reality Labs employees while Shifting Focus From Gen AI, including glasses and wristband computing devices. In practical terms, that means more resources for products like Ray Ban Meta smart glasses and fewer for experimental social VR worlds.
Zuckerberg’s AI supercluster bet
Mark Zuckerberg has been telegraphing this AI first turn for some time, and the Reality Labs layoffs now align the org chart with his public rhetoric. Over the summer, Meta CEO Zuckerberg said the company’s first AI data supercluster would come online in 2026, describing a system called Prometheus that is designed to train and run the next generation of large models. In that discussion, Meta CEO Mark framed the supercluster as essential infrastructure for everything from recommendation engines to generative assistants, a signal that the company’s capital spending would increasingly favor AI compute over speculative virtual worlds.
That infrastructure push helps explain why Reality Labs is being reshaped rather than simply shrunk. One account of the layoffs notes that Meta’s restructuring is tied to large scale data center investments and a broader push for AI momentum and commercial gains, language that matches Zuckerberg’s own emphasis on building out Prometheus and related systems. Another report on the financial side of Reality Labs says Meta’s layoffs in the unit signify a pivot from the metaverse after the division posted a loss of $4.4 billion, describing how Meta Announces Significant in Reality Labs Amid Strategic Shift. When a unit is burning billions and the CEO is promising a flagship AI supercluster, it is not surprising that headcount and budgets are being reallocated toward the latter.
What the cuts mean for VR, AR and the metaverse
For the teams that built Meta’s VR ecosystem, the layoffs are a harsh verdict on the metaverse era. One account notes that more than 1,000 Meta employees, described as “the ones who brought you the metaverse,” are now looking for work after the company behind Facebook and Instagram cut deeply into its VR operations. That same report highlights that More than 1,000 who worked on products like the VR Meta Quest 3 are affected, suggesting that even relatively successful hardware is not immune when the strategic narrative changes.
Another analysis of the restructuring says Meta’s VR layoffs and studio closures underscore Zuckerberg’s massive pivot to AI, pointing out that the company changed its name from Facebook just over four years ago to signal its metaverse commitment. Now, the same leadership is taking cues from AI rivals and redirecting resources toward generative models and assistants, a shift that one report says is already influencing how Meta positions its products and forecasts revenue. In that context, the description that Meta lays off underscores how the metaverse is no longer the company’s primary story, even if VR headsets and AR experiments will continue in a more constrained form.
Investors, products and the next platform race
For investors, the Reality Labs cuts are as much about discipline as they are about vision. One breakdown of the restructuring emphasizes that Meta’s layoffs in Reality Labs come after the division posted a multibillion dollar loss, and that the company is now seeking broader commercial gains from AI powered services and devices. Another account frames the move as Meta reportedly planning to eliminate 10 percent of Reality Labs jobs, a figure that has been repeated in coverage that Meta is cutting Reality Labs workforce by 10 percent, which signals to markets that management is willing to rein in spending on bets that are not yet paying off.
On the product side, the shift toward AI devices is already visible in Meta’s catalog, from smart glasses that embed conversational assistants to experimental wristbands that read neural signals. The company’s own shopping and product listings highlight how AI features are becoming central selling points, with one example showing a Meta branded product that leans on AI capabilities as a core differentiator. When combined with Zuckerberg’s Prometheus supercluster plans and the Reality Labs layoffs, those details point to a company that has decided the next platform race will be won by whoever can blend powerful models with everyday hardware, not by who builds the most immersive virtual world.
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