‘AI is here to stay, human isn’t’: Meta employee laid off after nearly 10 years at company

Gary Tay, a Singapore-based AdTech Business Support Engineer at Meta, was laid off during the company’s latest round of job cuts, just hours after completing training for a new engineer on his team. Tay, who had worked at Meta for 3,544 days—roughly nine years and nine months—shared his experience in a viral LinkedIn post, noting that his tenure was longer than 99.5% of current global employees and 99.9% of those in Meta’s APAC office. Tay highlighted how he spent the past year retraining in AI tools, developing systems that improved team efficiency by 200-300% while maintaining service-level agreements with Meta’s largest clients. His post included the provocative line, ‘AI is here to stay, apparently the human isn’t,’ before announcing plans to take time off to prepare for the birth of his child in July. Meta’s layoffs are part of a broader restructuring effort, with nearly 8,000 job cuts announced globally. Employees in Singapore received notifications around 4 a.m., while those in Europe and the U.S. were informed later in their respective time zones. An internal memo from Meta’s HR chief, Janelle Gale, indicated the company aims to reduce managerial roles to create flatter organizational structures and smaller, more agile teams. The layoffs follow a pattern of cost-cutting measures that began in November 2022, as Meta shifts focus toward AI development. Tay’s post resonated widely, with former colleagues and others expressing sympathy and reflecting on Meta’s changing corporate culture since Sheryl Sandberg’s departure.