Meta Abandons AI Workforce Plan After Productivity Gains Fail

Meta Platforms abandoned an ambitious plan to drastically reduce its workforce in favor of AI agents after the technology failed to deliver expected productivity gains and employees fiercely resisted the changes, according to a Reuters investigation published on August 26, 2026. The initiative, codenamed Project OT, was conceived in January 2026 at a leadership retreat at CEO Mark Zuckerberg's Hawaiian estate and aimed to transform Meta into an "AI native" company where intelligent agents would handle substantial portions of work traditionally performed by humans.