On April 23, 2026, Meta officially launched a new artificial intelligence product called "Muse Spark," marking its strategic shift from its struggling metaverse business to generative AI.

At the same time as launching this major product, according to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg, Meta plans to cut 10% of its workforce, affecting about 8,000 employees, and simultaneously stop hiring for 6,000 open positions. This structural adjustment will start on May 20, led by Chief Human Resources Officer Janelle Gale, aiming to offset its significant investments in AI infrastructure and R&D by reducing labor costs.

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Meta's aggressive transformation has deep roots, as its previous metaverse projects that invested hundreds of billions of dollars failed to achieve expected growth, and the company now urgently needs to improve operational efficiency to support its expansion in the AI field. The launch of Muse Spark is seen as a key move for Meta to catch up with Google and OpenAI in the AI race. Previously, Meta had already introduced several AI features into its social ecosystem, including the recent Meta AI monitoring feature opened to parents and real-time chat optimization for Threads.

Industry analysts believe that Meta's "cost reduction and efficiency enhancement" strategy reflects the common anxiety and decisiveness of Silicon Valley giants in the post-metaverse era. Despite the pressure of reducing its organization by thousands of people, Meta is trying to focus its resources on core AI products like Muse Spark by cutting non-core businesses. This strategy of sacrificing organizational scale to gain computing power and algorithmic leadership indicates that competition in the AI industry has entered a new phase of extreme restructuring of existing resources. Whether Meta can reshape its technological moat as a social media giant with Muse Spark will be the focus of the tech world in 2026.