Meta cutting close to 350 jobs in Ireland as they ramp up AI use

Kenneth Fox

Meta's Irish workers have been informed that their roles have been cut as the tech giant moves to cut 8,000 jobs across the world.

The company began notifying workers around the world on Wednesday morning, part of a previously announced restructuring aimed at reducing costs while the company invests heavily in artificial intelligence.

As the Irish Examiner reports, it is understood that around 350 Irish jobs are to be cut. Meta employs approximately 1,800 workers in Ireland, and the impacted staff have been notified that their roles are being cut.

The tech giant has also informed the Department of Enterprise of the planned layoffs as they are required to under Irish law.

Staff globally were encouraged to work from home while the company cut roughly 8,000 roles globally.

This latest round of cuts is expected to hit Meta’s engineering and product teams in particular, and additional layoffs could come later in the year, said people familiar with the company’s plans, who asked not to be named as the information is not public.

Speaking on the announcement, the Financial Services Union (FSU), which represents members of Meta staff, said the sector was reaching a "dangerous stage" where regulation is trailing implementation.

"Decisions being taken by employers to utilise AI across their business are happening without adequate training for staff and without proper oversight."

"Full and transparent stakeholder involvement is required from unions to employers and regulators to legislators to manage the change that AI will make to the workplace and to jobs. Without that collaboration, we will continue to see announcements of job losses like we have seen today," the FSU said.

On Monday, Meta informed staff that some 7,000 workers have also been reassigned to newly formed teams that are focused on AI initiatives, including products and agents.

The company, which has committed well in excess of $100 billion (€85.2 billion) to AI capital expenditures this year, had just under 80,000 employees at the end of March, ahead of the reassignments and layoffs.