'Tell Him He's a Piece of Shit': Meta's New AI Unit Is a Total Mess

Meta's Applied AI unit, formed in March with 6,500 engineers, is experiencing widespread employee dissatisfaction, with workers describing assignments like generating AI test puzzles as "soul-crushing" and "menial" compared to their previous roles. The frustration reflects broader tensions across Meta following a recent restructuring that laid off 8,000 employees and implemented controversial AI training data collection from workers' keystrokes. Meta executives have acknowledged the difficult environment created by recent organizational changes, with Chief Product Officer Chris Cox describing the current situation as "brutal" and "insane."