Meta defers – Meta reversed course on an Applied AI task force that reassigned thousands of employees into AI training work. After internal backlash, a new memo said the company will now “defer to each individual’s choice,” including preferential placement in other roles fo
Meta moved quickly to soften a decision that had rattled engineers: the company has walked back its stance on forcing employees into an Applied AI task force focused on training Meta’s coming AI models.
Last month, Meta reassigned 7,000 employees to units including an Applied AI task force, with the goal of helping train Meta’s coming AI models. The program triggered sharp employee pushback when people compared the work to data labeling.
On Wednesday, Meta sent a memo about the task force that marks a clear shift in how the company frames the assignment. The memo told employees—who had been “drafted,” as some described the Applied AI task force—that Meta will now “defer to each individual’s choice.”
The memo also offered employees reassurance that their decisions would be supported. “As I emphasized before, personal agency will remain at the heart of all opportunities at Meta: we will support employees in whatever decisions they make,” the memo said.
It added: “Of course, we’d prefer everyone to stay and push to SOTA together, but we defer to each individual’s choice,” referring to state-of-the-art.
Meta’s memo went further than simply changing the language. It said people in the unit would have preferential placement in other parts of the company due to staffing shortages.
The company declined to comment for this story.
Some employees on Blind called the memo an “undraft,” capturing the emotional split that had formed inside the company. For many, the reversal wasn’t just a staffing change—it was a direct response to how the task force had been felt on the ground.
The shift lands after a broader morale crisis that Meta’s technology leadership acknowledged internally. On June 2, Meta chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth addressed the situation during an internal “Tuesdays with Boz” session. He told employees that morale was “probably one of the worst it’s ever been” in Meta’s 20-year history.
The Applied AI task force controversy follows further disruption at Meta’s workforce. In May, Meta laid off 10% of its staff—8,000 people.
Meta Applied AI task force AI training engineers Andrew Bosworth morale layoffs SOTA staffing shortages