Meta restructures AI team: Following the layoff of hundreds of employees, the head of the metaverse business transitions to AI

According to the Zhitong Finance APP, following the layoff of hundreds of employees last week, Meta Platforms (META.US) has reassigned executives from its metaverse business to oversee artificial intelligence products, indicating that the company is heavily investing to participate in the fierce AI competition while still striving to build its team. According to insiders, Vishal Shah will transition to the Meta Superintelligence Labs team. For the past four years, Shah has led Meta's efforts to build the metaverse. An internal memo sent to employees on Monday indicated that Shah will move to the Meta Superintelligence Labs team to lead AI products. Before joining the metaverse, Shah was responsible for products at Instagram. He will be responsible for integrating the company's AI technologies (including the Meta AI chatbot) into Meta's various applications and wearable devices. In light of Shah's position change, Meta will also elevate the positions of two other executives in its metaverse department. The metaverse department involves virtual and augmented reality products and software. According to an insider, Gabe Aul, who has been leading the company's virtual world product Meta Horizon, will take over all metaverse work, including virtual avatars and content experiences. Ryan Cairns, who is responsible for all Quest virtual reality hardware and its VR operating system Meta Horizon OS, will continue in this role but will now report directly to Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made AI a top priority for the company's development, investing billions of dollars this year in data centers and AI researchers to keep pace with competitors like OpenAI and Alphabet's (GOOGL.US) Google. However, Meta laid off about 600 employees in its AI department last week, with Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang telling colleagues that this move would help accelerate the department's development pace. Zuckerberg has expressed disappointment with the company's progress in AI and has shown a strong interest in accelerating AI development earlier this year, with internal divisions within the department being adjusted multiple times in recent months. In addition to personally recruiting AI researchers, Zuckerberg has also established a new lab within the company called "TBD Labs" to develop new, cutting-edge AI models. Bosworth told employees that metaverse work remains important. In a memo, he wrote that this priority "remains unchanged and is still a priority for the entire company." Bosworth stated, "We have proven our case to the industry, and we continually see competitors entering this space trying to catch up to us, so we need to continue to solidify our hard-won advantages." Meta will announce its third-quarter earnings after the market closes on Wednesday, with expectations that artificial intelligence will be a key focus for Zuckerberg during the investor conference call