May 26, 2026 – Meta appears to be leveraging its recent workforce reductions as a strategic asset in its artificial intelligence push, according to newly surfaced internal comments from CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The company, which revealed in April that it would trim approximately 10% of its headcount — impacting roughly 7,800 roles — has handled the process unlike most tech giants. Instead of acting swiftly, Meta gave nearly a full month of advance notice and has so far refused to disclose the specific individuals affected.
However, according to internal meeting recordings obtained by More Perfect Union, Zuckerberg used a recent all-hands gathering to reveal that the company is actively harvesting employee work data to fuel its in-house AI models.
“AI learns best by watching how genuinely brilliant people operate,” Zuckerberg reportedly told staff. He stressed that exposing the models to the workflows of top-tier employees is critical to accelerating their development.
Zuckerberg also made a pointed comparison between Meta’s internal talent pool and external contractors, arguing that the company’s engineers and product teams are far superior to what outsourcing channels can offer. “Our people are on another level,” he said, according to the recording.
To illustrate his point, Zuckerberg cited software engineering as a key example. By having internal developers build tools and tackle real coding challenges, the AI can absorb programming logic far more effectively — giving Meta a speed advantage over rivals that depend on outsourced labor for similar training tasks.
The remarks suggest that Meta views its remaining workforce not just as operational backbone, but as the intellectual engine driving its next wave of AI products.
