Meta Platforms Inc. is reportedly planning to cut about 10% of employees at its Reality Labs division as the company shifts its priorities to artificial intelligence.

The New York Times, referencing three people familiar with the matter, claims that the layoffs could be announced as soon as Tuesday and that Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s chief technology officer who oversees Reality Labs, has called a meeting for Wednesday and has urged staff to attend in person,

Reality Labs accounts for roughly 15,000 employees of Meta’s total workforce of 78,000, meaning that around 1,500 people are expected to be laid off.

Previous reports in December had suggested that Meta was planning to lay off up to 30% of Reality Labs staff.

Founded in 2020, Reality Labs is the unit responsible for Meta’s virtual and augmented reality efforts, including Quest headsets, Horizon Worlds and other metaverse-related software and hardware initiatives.

Reality Labs has posted multibillion-dollar operating losses every year since it was founded, with Meta previously warning investors that losses would continue to grow as the company invested heavily in immersive technologies. Despite the best of intentions, virtual reality and so-called metaverse experiments have failed to gain mainstream adoption and use, an outcome that is not surprising given that VR, in one form or another, has been meant to be the next big thing since the 1990s.

The reported layoffs come as Meta shifts its broader focus toward artificial intelligence. Initiatives have included AI-powered recommendations across Facebook and Instagram, the open-source Llama large language model family and building AI infrastructure, including custom chips and data center capacity.

The job cuts come after Meta previously laid off more than 100 Reality Labs staffers in April. Meta also laid off 600 AI workers from its Superintelligence Labs unit in October as part of a push to streamline its AI efforts.

The new layoffs, presuming they happen, also come after a year when tech companies laid off workers in increasing numbers amid the rise of AI and a broader focus on profitability. In 2025, it’s estimated that nearly 250,000 tech workers were laid off, including some 170,000 in the U.S.

Photo: Meta