Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is embroiled in a new controversy involving AI. The company recently laid off approximately 600 employees across its Artificial Intelligence division and just days after that announcement, the Mark Zuckerberg-led brand is now encouraging its remaining workforce to utilise an internal AI chatbot, called Metamate, to draft their performance reviews.
The job cuts, which impacted the AI infrastructure, the Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) team, and other product-focused groups, were part of Mark Zuckerberg’s push for a “year of efficiency” meant to streamline the organisation and reduce bureaucratic layers. However, the subsequent shift to AI-assisted performance management has left many questioning the future of work within the company.
Meet Metamate, the new HR assistant
Meta’s Metamate platform functions similarly to consumer-grade tools like ChatGPT, utilising advanced generative AI to scan through internal documents, summarise employees’ yearly achievements, aggregate project feedback, and compile detailed self-assessments. The internal software is designed to streamline the time-consuming ritual of drafting year-end reviews.
Joseph Spisak, the Product Director at Meta’s Superintelligence Labs, championed the tool’s utility, stating that Metamate can “search all my docs and what I’ve done and summarise what I’ve done for the year and my accomplishments and feedback on me,” calling the feature “great.” Spisak highlighted that the tool effectively acts as a personal historian, compiling data in seconds that would otherwise take employees hours to recall and structure.
While Meta has not issued a formal mandate for its use, adoption of Metamate for both self-evaluations and manager reviews is growing across teams. The company’s Chief AI Officer, Alexandr Wang, reportedly described the recent job cuts as a necessary step to create a more agile organization, allowing the remaining employees a greater scope of impact.
Meta is presently scaling up its efforts in the AI space, especially with the Meta Superintelligence Lab (MSL). The company is trailing behind in the AI race, an arena where OpenAI and Google are competing for the top honours.
