Zoë Schiffer

Welcome to Wired's Uncanny Valley.

I'm Zoe Schiffer, Director of Business and Industry.

Today on the show, we're talking about the dysfunction in Meta's newly formed AI unit and why it's been driving employee morale, which was already very, very low, even further into the ground.

And it's a busy week for controversial figures because we'll also get into how the former cryptocurrency founder and now convicted felon, Sam Bankman Freed, is not only trying to make his case to get a pardon from the Trump administration, but planning a potential comeback.

Brian, I think we have to get started with the complete mess and mayhem that is going on inside Meta.

It's bad.

It's bad.

It's so bad.

People are not happy.

Just to set the scene, the company has been laser focused on trying to catch up

and maybe win the AI race.

It has poured a ton of money into creating a new AI unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs, and they've invested a ton in AI infrastructure.

They've released new models.

That's been a little bit bumpy.

But more recently, the company has reshuffled its staff in favor of prioritizing AI.

During the company's most recent round of layoffs last month, about 7,000 people were transferred to work on teams focused on AI.

One of these teams was Meta's Applied AI Engineering Unit, which basically supports the work of the people who are in Meta Superintelligence Labs, which is the super fancy AI lab.

And perhaps it's an understatement to say things have not gone smoothly at all.

Yes, exactly.

10% of the company.