Meta
TL;DR Meta, formerly Facebook, evolved from a social networking pioneer into a significant force in artificial intelligence and the metaverse, leading global innovation with deep learning, large language models, and an open research ethos while deploying advanced AI across its flagship platforms and supercharging investments in self-improving systems.
Meta Platforms, founded in 2004 as Facebook by Mark Zuckerberg and his fellow Harvard students, transformed social media and digital interaction for billions worldwide. The company’s strategic rebranding to Meta in 2021 signaled a dual focus on artificial intelligence and the metaverse, integrating virtual, augmented, and generative realities into its vision for the future of connectivity and human experience.
Meta operates some of the world’s largest social platforms, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Threads, reaching over 3 billion monthly active users across its ecosystem. Its major AI journey began in 2013 with the founding of Facebook AI Research (FAIR), led by Yann LeCun, which quickly established Meta as a global leader in foundational AI research, particularly in deep learning, self-supervised learning, computer vision, and NLP frameworks like PyTorch. Over the years, Meta infused advanced AI into every aspect of user experience: personalized content recommendations, sophisticated moderation algorithms, accessibility features, and targeted advertising. Since its rebrand, Meta’s investments in AI and metaverse technologies have escalated to $60-$65 billion by 2025, with organizational restructuring in Superintelligence Labs creating dedicated teams for research, infrastructure, and product development, underscoring its ambition to drive the next era of advanced, autonomous AI.
Founded Facebook in 2004, rapidly became the world’s most popular social platform, and expanded to Instagram (2012), WhatsApp (2014), Messenger, Threads, and Oculus VR.
Launched FAIR in 2013, pioneering breakthroughs in deep learning, self-supervised AI, and the PyTorch framework, now used globally for academic and commercial research.
Integrated state-of-the-art AI into all major apps, enhancing user engagement, safety, accessibility, and ad targeting for billions across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Threads.
Released Llama (including Llama 4), large language models powering scalable AI experiences, digital assistants, and generative systems throughout Meta’s platforms.
Enabled real-time content moderation, personalized feeds, and dynamic ad solutions using self-improving and foundational AI technologies.
Announced advanced organizational restructuring in 2025 with Superintelligence Labs, dividing teams for research, infrastructure, and product development to accelerate progress toward artificial general intelligence and superintelligence.
Invested more than $60 billion since 2021 in AI and metaverse innovation, supporting transformative projects in virtual reality, augmented reality, generative AI, and open source research.
Maintains a commitment to open science, regularly contributing major frameworks and research findings to the global AI community and academic ecosystem.
In 2025, Meta drew global scrutiny for its whiplash hiring spree, bringing in hundreds of industry-leading AI experts with record-breaking salaries, only to embark on mass layoffs and aggressive restructuring just months later. The divisive strategy, favoring flashy new hires in top-tier labs like TBD and Superintelligence Labs while cutting hundreds of legacy staff and researchers, exposed deep fractures within Meta’s workforce. Newly recruited talent, promised enormous pay packages in the drive to leapfrog competitors, quickly became disillusioned by the lack of a clear vision, executive indecision, and restrictive bureaucracy, prompting many to abandon Meta despite lavish incentives. The resulting income divide and churn left remaining employees grappling with intense workloads and diminished morale, as Meta’s bid to build a “startup-in-a-giant” only deepened organizational instability and doubts about long-term leadership.
