Meta developed an internal plan earlier this year to shrink some of its teams by as much as 60 percent in an effort to become “AI native,” according to a new report citing two people familiar with the company’s internal affairs. The initiative, reportedly codenamed Project OT (short for organization transformation), explored scenarios that would have relied heavily on artificial intelligence to handle work previously done by thousands of employees.
Meta confirmed the existence of the plan, stating that certain teams conducted a scenario planning exercise examining the potential impact of redeployments, closing open roles, and cuts. The company said the effort ultimately moved thousands of employees to newly established teams focused on priority work. Meta added that it did not move forward with every scenario and that it was never assumed the company would. Meta declined to confirm which teams Project OT affected.
How Project OT Was Structured
Meta executives reportedly created Project OT in January. The plan explored using AI to perform much of the daily work carried out by thousands of human employees, with small teams of people overseeing the automated systems. Under these scenarios, some workers would have received new roles while others would have been laid off.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg set the initiative in motion and directed executives to proceed with changes to management structures earlier this year. The plan called for two rounds of layoffs. The first round occurred in May, while the second was canceled. One HR executive reportedly said Meta would have reduced its headcount by roughly 25 percent or more under the proposed scenarios, though the company said it canceled Project OT before determining a final number of layoffs.
Money saved through the cuts was reportedly earmarked to pay high-performing employees, particularly those with AI engineering skills.
What ‘AI Native’ Meant for Meta
One Project OT document defined “AI native” as a company where AI-ready tools and agents interact, workflows are automated, and new builds are AI-first. The definition also included selling AI agents to third parties, something Meta began doing in June.
This year, Meta launched a pilot program that restructured engineering teams, research teams, and at least eight other groups into smaller units. That effort followed an internal post published in October called the AI-Native Playbook, in which a product management team member outlined how the pilot would remove middle management and use agent-assisted analysis to help prioritize daily tasks.
The report was based on a review of scores of internal documents, posts, and recordings, along with interviews with more than 20 people with knowledge of Meta’s inner workings. Meta began selling AI agents to outside parties in June 2026.
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Image: arstechnica.com
