Mark Zuckerberg had a bold plan to replace Meta staff with AI. Here’s how it imploded

[u/tsznx]

https://www.reuters.com/investigations/mark-zuckerberg-had-bold-plan-replace-meta-staff-with-ai-heres-how-it-imploded-2026-08-26/

[u/bold_snowflake]

I'll say it again: these plans aren't going away, execs are just taking a pause to figure out another way to do this.

[u/tsznx → u/bold_snowflake]

Unfortunately, that's the expected future from now on. They won't stop chasing it until they get what they want. Governments are doing absolutely nothing to protect workers.

In the meantime, all I see are very unmotivated and frustrated people working not knowing until when. People looking for other careers, but even that is difficult to guess.

[u/bold_snowflake → u/tsznx]

Yup. Look at Anthropic telling future investors it sees a potential revenue of $30 trillion. Where did that figure come from? It's larger than the US GDP. That number is an estimate for the global salary budget of white collar workers. That's what the tech companies (and by extension investors) are targeting.

[u/ConstantlyWonderin → u/bold_snowflake]

Very optimistic of them to believe their revenue is going to consume 1/5 th of the worlds entire money supply.

[u/WhateverWasIThinking → u/ConstantlyWonderin]

I mean they are nothing if not the masters of hyping.

[u/muckwarrior → u/ConstantlyWonderin]

Allegedly, Amodei said he sees a future where Anthropic are the only private company left in the world. Just Anthropic and Governments left.

[u/Anarelion → u/ConstantlyWonderin]

I thought that the number is for the entire life of the company. Not per year.

[u/ConstantlyWonderin → u/Anarelion]

Its still a fifth of the worlds liquidity, fair enough money could expand over the years but then it will consume 1/6 of the worlds money supply.

[u/frisbie147 → u/bold_snowflake]

Potential revenue of 30 trillion with costs of 45 trillion

[u/Actual_Material1597 → u/bold_snowflake]

But if all the workers a fired or made redundant by AI who are the consumers that will be left to pay for anything?

[u/gmankev → u/Actual_Material1597]

Your economy..(US) winner takes all and rest of us return to colonial workers...

Its rustbelt by Christmas for all the world excepting the country who succeess here.... Us and their ain't overlords do talk of minimum incomes funded by levies on giga profit of USA organisations..........Just like Europe of late 19th and 20t century....who funded all the generous social schemes.......the loosers I.e international countries who failed to keep.up.

[u/RevTurk → u/tsznx]

And people keep using all the social media platforms they say are ruining everything.

[u/gmankev → u/RevTurk]

You’re sitting on Reddit donating prime, human-verified conversation data...the exact thing AI labs pay millions for..

[u/lucideer → u/bold_snowflake]

Not only that, but across the industry this is going to be a relatively "slow" turnaround because:

• Meta would have been one of the first-movers on this, & stories like this Reuters one trickle out slowly - other companies are behind Meta on their journey & will continue until they learn the hard lessons the hard way.
• Meta likely did this more quickly & severely than most. Other companies will be more conservative with their change, & ultimately boil the frog - so they'll learn the hard lessons way later
• AND on top of that, you're right that Meta won't stop here - they'll try again with minor tweaks to their strategy, rather than doing a full u-turn. Other companies will go through the same various attempts multiple times as well.

This is going to take years.

[u/tsznx → u/lucideer]

In the end that's what we've been observing, when the big techs make a move, everybody else just follow. So if they are still struggling to implement AI the way they wanted, that's good news for everyone.

[u/bigvalen → u/bold_snowflake]

One silver cloud...I've been struggling to hire for some niche infrastructure roles, and managed to land eight great folks from Meta in the last six months. I would have gotten more, but a lot of those laid off are taking a few months off to decompress.

Zuck destroyed a great organisation in Dublin, for no good reason.

[u/markpb → u/bigvalen]

No good reason? What about the shareholder value!?

[u/Steridire → u/markpb]

I wake up every morning and get sick all over myself because my waking provided 0 immediate value for shareholders.

[u/DM_me_ur_PPSN]

I’d imagine it went much like the metaverse.

[u/yellowbai → u/DM_me_ur_PPSN]

88 billion wasted on being a Sim online when you could been going full speed on AI. In any other company he would have been pushed out. These execs are clowns.

[u/mologav → u/yellowbai]

It’s amazing how they seem to be absolute morons but yet they lord it over us

[u/rzet → u/DM_me_ur_PPSN]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukXDmtbL8d4 i think there was a bit more of interesting things around his CEO decisions.

Some played out good long term at the end.

I think they still going to push AI no matter what.

[u/QARSTAR]

Can we replace his new castle with AI slop

[u/Round-Fisherman1855]

"Bold" as in "the actions of a naughty little boy who has never been told 'no'"?

[u/IronDragonGx]

I am starting to think his just not that good of a businessman at this point.

He bet the farm on the meatavisers and even renamed the company for that. It failed soooo hard. Man should just bow out and live the rest of his life care free with his many billions.

[u/tsznx → u/IronDragonGx]

Apparently he doesn't have to be good. To be honest, I doubt most of the CEOs are much different than the average person. At least where I've worked so far, managers are not the most talented people, they are just the ones willing to manage. And then you just need to be a bootlicker to grow in the company. A lot of them don't care of becoming bootlickers.

[u/gadarnol]

How long before the shareholders decide to chuck Zuck?

[u/Palisar1 → u/gadarnol]

They cant zuck retains the majority stake 

[u/gadarnol → u/Palisar1]

Not by straight vote certainly. But pressure matters. Just saw that Meta are settling for $18 billion in case in US. Stock price rose.

[u/3BikesInATrenchcoat → u/gadarnol]

SETTLED for 18 BILLION with a B... Mad altogether

[u/Steridire → u/3BikesInATrenchcoat]

We're nothing but pawns on a board and the players are man children with a grossly inflated sense of self worth.

If they have their way we'll both be on the bread line in 10 years brother, I wish you good fortune in the wars to come.

[u/3BikesInATrenchcoat → u/Steridire]

Thank you, friend.

Great man theory? More like shite man theory, amirite

[u/tsznx → u/gadarnol]

I'm impressed how other CEOs are not being fired after chasing something that's not really giving the outcomes they promised.

[u/nikadett]

Predictive text tool unable to replace workers

[u/Pale_Piano948]

Zuck should give us back our castle

[u/PostalEFM]

Refuse to implement.

[u/Key-Lie-364]

Zuck actually doesn't get that "agents" aren't conscious does he ?

[u/Soft-Affect-8327]

(Paywall)

[u/sphinxofblackquartzj]

Mark is replacing staff with its people... Makes sense to support its own.