After layoffs, Meta turns to its own AI chatbot to draft staff evaluations

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has sparked fresh controversy after it began using artificial intelligence to assist in employee performance reviews — just days after laying off around 600 staff members from its AI division.

As per various media reports, the company has reportedly encouraged its remaining employees to use an internal chatbot called Metamate to help draft their performance evaluations. The move follows widespread job cuts that affected Meta’s AI infrastructure unit, its Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) team, and several other product-focused groups. The layoffs were part of Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg’s “year of efficiency” strategy aimed at streamlining operations and removing layers of bureaucracy across the organisation.

Metamate, Meta’s internal AI assistant, operates in a manner similar to widely available generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. It can analyse internal documents, summarise an employee’s annual achievements, collect feedback from multiple projects, and generate comprehensive self-assessment drafts. The tool is designed to save time and simplify what has long been viewed as a tedious, administrative process for both employees and managers.

Although Meta has not made the use of Metamate compulsory, internal reports suggest that adoption of the tool is increasing across teams for both self-evaluations and managerial feedback. The development comes at a sensitive time for the company, with many employees expressing unease over the dual reality of job losses and growing AI integration into human resource functions.

Meta’s Chief AI Officer, Alexandr Wang, reportedly defended the layoffs, describing them as a necessary step to create a leaner and more agile organisation. Wang stated that the restructuring would enable the remaining workforce to operate with greater focus and deliver more impactful work.

The company continues to ramp up its investment in artificial intelligence, with significant resources being directed towards the Meta Superintelligence Lab (MSL). However, despite these efforts, Meta remains under pressure to catch up with industry leaders OpenAI and Google, both of which are competing aggressively to dominate the rapidly expanding AI ecosystem.