Meta Platforms will eliminate approximately 101 positions in Washington state as the technology company reduces its artificial intelligence division workforce, the company confirmed Monday.
The reductions will impact various roles including software engineers, product managers, AI researchers, and data scientists, according to an October 22 state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filing.
Last week, the Menlo Park, California-based social media company informed employees it would eliminate 600 positions from its Superintelligence Labs unit, aiming to reduce “organizational bloat” that accumulated during three years of rapid AI team expansion.
The layoffs are scheduled to begin December 22.
Meta’s filing indicates affected workers include approximately 23 employees in Seattle, 48 in Bellevue, and four in Redmond. Another 23 affected employees reside in Washington but work remotely. The breakdown figures vary slightly from Meta’s disclosed total.
Meta employs roughly 8,000 workers in the Seattle area, making it one of the region’s largest technology employers.
Technology companies throughout the Seattle region have reduced headcounts this year. Microsoft eliminated 15,000 positions over the summer, and Amazon reportedly plans to cut up to 30,000 jobs starting as soon as Tuesday.
The 101 Washington state layoffs represent Meta’s strategic retreat from aggressive AI hiring that characterized the company’s response to ChatGPT’s late 2022 launch, when technology firms competed frantically to recruit machine learning specialists and researchers.
The Superintelligence Labs unit elimination demonstrates Meta’s acknowledgment that rapid team expansion produced redundant organizational layers where too many managers oversee too few individual contributors, creating communication bottlenecks hindering innovation.
The December 22 effective date provides affected employees notice period extending through year-end holidays, though receiving termination news weeks before Christmas creates emotional hardship regardless of severance package generosity.
The geographic distribution concentrating 48 layoffs in Bellevue versus 23 in Seattle suggests Meta’s Eastside offices house disproportionate AI research operations, possibly due to proximity to Microsoft’s machine learning talent pool and University of Washington computer science programs.
The four Redmond layoffs indicate minimal Meta presence in Microsoft’s headquarters city, with the company strategically locating most operations in Bellevue and Seattle where it avoids direct Microsoft campus proximity while accessing similar talent markets.
The 23 remote workers affected by layoffs reflect pandemic-era hiring when companies recruited nationwide without geographic restrictions, creating distributed teams now vulnerable to restructuring that prioritizes in-person collaboration.
The software engineer, product manager, AI researcher, and data scientist role mix indicates Meta is eliminating both technical talent building AI systems and business professionals managing product strategy, suggesting comprehensive restructuring rather than targeted elimination of specific job functions.
The “organizational bloat” characterization implies Meta believes its AI division employed too many people relative to productive output, a common technology company criticism where rapid growth creates bureaucracy that slows decision-making and product development.
The three-year AI buildup timeline corresponds to ChatGPT’s November 2022 release that triggered industry panic about falling behind in generative AI, prompting Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon to dramatically expand research teams.
Meta’s 8,000 Seattle-area employee base makes the company a major regional employer whose 101 layoffs represent approximately 1.25% of local workforce, a modest reduction suggesting AI restructuring targets specific teams rather than broad downsizing.
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filing requirement under federal WARN Act mandates employers provide 60-day advance notice of mass layoffs, protecting workers from surprise terminations while giving communities time to prepare for economic impacts.
Seattle’s technology sector faces compounding job losses as Meta’s 101 layoffs join Microsoft’s 15,000 cuts and Amazon’s reported 30,000 reductions, creating unprecedented white-collar unemployment concentration that strains social services and depresses consumer spending.
The AI researcher layoffs seem counterintuitive given technology industry rhetoric about artificial intelligence representing the future, revealing companies distinguish between productive AI roles generating revenue and speculative research positions consuming resources without clear returns.
Meta’s Bellevue concentration housing 48 of 101 affected workers suggests the company’s Eastside offices focus heavily on AI development, possibly including Reality Labs teams building augmented reality and virtual reality products dependent on machine learning.
The layoffs during fourth quarter allow Meta to report reduced headcount in 2026 first-quarter earnings, demonstrating cost discipline to investors who have pressured technology companies to improve profit margins after years of aggressive unprofitable expansion.
Washington state’s strong employment laws and robust unemployment insurance system provide affected Meta workers greater protections than counterparts in states with weaker labor regulations, though six-figure salaries mean many employees exceed benefit caps.
The technology sector job market saturation from simultaneous Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon layoffs means affected AI specialists face months-long searches as hundreds of similarly credentialed candidates compete for limited openings at smaller Seattle companies.
