A prominent Chinese artificial intelligence researcher has criticised Meta Platforms after being laid off alongside hundreds of others, as the Facebook owner restructures its AI operations following disappointing progress on its flagship Llama models.
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Meta confirmed on Wednesday that around 600 employees from its AI research arm were let go, months after the company revamped its strategy through the acquisition of data-labelling firm Scale AI and a poaching spree from rival labs.
Tian Yuandong – research scientist director at Meta’s FAIR (Fundamental AI Research) team and one of the biggest names affected in the lay-offs – said his team had been diverted from core projects to tackle problems in Llama 4 ahead of its release, only to be laid off months later.
“People who are responsible for the issues are not the people who got laid off,” he posted on X.
Meta’s flagship open-source model Llama series garnered a huge following globally after its release in February 2023, but the latest version, Llama 4, released in April, was widely regarded as underwhelming.
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The setback stalled new model development and came as several Chinese open-source rivals overtook Llama in popularity.