Author: Long Yue
Source: Wall Street News
With the deepening application of AI technology, Meta is attempting to reshape the way of work by building an "AI-native" enterprise, starting with its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.
Recently, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was revealed to be developing a proprietary "CEO agent" to help him perform his duties more efficiently.
According to sources familiar with the matter who spoke to The Wall Street Journal, the AI agent Zuckerberg is developing is still in the development stage. Its main function is to help Zuckerberg access information more quickly. In the past, he might have needed to go through layers of reporting to get answers, but now, this AI agent can directly retrieve and provide the information he needs.
This project reflects a culture within Meta: accelerating the pace of work, eliminating redundant layers in the organizational structure, and changing the daily work methods of employees. Meta has about 78,000 employees. Facing much smaller but highly competitive AI-native startups, Meta believes that fully adopting AI is key to maintaining competitiveness.
Zuckerberg hinted at AI efficiency during the earnings call in January: one person can do the work of a team. He said, "We are investing in AI-native tools so that individuals at Meta can accomplish more work. We are elevating the status of individual contributors and flattening teams." He is beginning to see that "projects that used to require large teams can now be completed by one very talented person."
Internal AI Adoption: From My Claw to Second Brain
Within Meta, the use of AI tools has rapidly become widespread. This is partly because the use of AI tools is now a factor in employee performance evaluations. According to sources familiar with the matter, Meta's internal message boards are filled with employees sharing new AI use cases and new tools they have built using AI.
Employees have begun using personal agent tools like My Claw. These tools can access their chat histories and work files, and can even communicate on their behalf with colleagues—or the colleagues' personal agents.
Another AI tool called Second Brain has also gained significant attention internally. Sources familiar with the matter revealed that this tool, which is somewhere between a chatbot and an agent, was built by a Meta employee based on Claude. It can index and query documents for projects. In the internal post announcing the tool, the employee described it as "designed to be an AI chief of staff."
There is even a dedicated group on the internal message board for employees' personal agents to communicate with each other. Additionally, Meta recently acquired the AI agent social media site Moltbook and hired its founder. At the same time, Meta also acquired the Singaporean startup Manus, which creates personal agents that can perform tasks for users. Meta is currently using this tool internally.
Organizational Reshaping: Ultra-Flat Structure and the Shadow of Layoffs
To accelerate the development of large language models, Meta recently established a new Applied AI Engineering organization. It is reported that these teams will adopt an ultra-flat structure, with up to 50 individual contributors reporting to one manager.
Maher Saba, the Meta executive responsible for the new organization, said in an internal post announcing the new teams: "We designed this organization to be AI-native from day one." These teams will report to the company's Chief Technology Officer, Andrew Bosworth.
However, this rapid change and focus on AI usage has also sparked anxiety among some employees about potential layoffs. Wall Street News recently wrote that Meta is planning large-scale layoffs, potentially reaching 20% or even higher. Based on Meta's approximately 79,000 employees as of the end of December last year, this layoff would affect over 15,000 people.
