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After burning through $75 Billion, Meta fires hundreds of employees, while it shifts to AI

ThroatPie said:
I don't know what to think about the whole AI thing. My only experiences with it have been less than stellar. We use it at my hospital to co-diagnose imaging procedures and it's hit or miss. It's pretty much mandatory to use but thankfully not mandatory to rely on.
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everyone's experience with it is less than stellar, and everyone has talked about it, but it's basically an article of faith at this point. AI sucks for pretty much anything beyond slop generation. Yet... we're all supposed to just believe hard enough in it and invest 110% of the planet's resources into it and it will become good and save the universe and turn this into a utopia.
 
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diffusionx said:
everyone's experience with it is less than stellar, and everyone has talked about it, but it's basically an article of faith at this point. AI sucks for pretty much anything beyond slop generation. Yet... we're all supposed to just believe hard enough in it and invest 110% of the planet's resources into it and it will become good and save the universe and turn this into a utopia.
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It's certainly better than just slop generation. It's used right now in software development quite extensively. Even if you don't let it generate code it can do code reviews like crazy and catch bugs, perf issues and security holes.

But it is pretty damn good at generating code, particularly smaller blocks of code as you build something.
 
IntentionalPun said:
It's certainly better than just slop generation. It's used right now in software development quite extensively. Even if you don't let it generate code it can do code reviews like crazy and catch bugs, perf issues and security holes.

But it is pretty damn good at generating code, particularly smaller blocks of code as you build something.
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Yep, Satya Nadella is quite proud of saying that AI writes a third of Microsoft's code, while their products are worse than ever, Copilot is ass, and they can't even release a Windows update without major problems.
 
Haint said:
Imagine where VR would be if they spent $75 Billion on content. For perspective, Half Life Alyx was probably a $75 Million dollar project. So they've literally spent enough money to fund 1000 Alyx scale games, or a Netflix scale service of blockbuster VR movies/TV shows, or their own proprietary displays AND manufacturing. Where did it all go? They could have literally given out their 30 million headsets FOR FREE and only been down 15 billion. The scale of waste and fake-work-do-nothings in that division has to be the most egregious malfeacance in all of human history and will be studied by business schools for hundreds of years.
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I don't think VR can support very many AAA games. It's too limiting a platform and seems better for short bursts of play. My kid can do VR for HOURS but its all silly social games like gorilla tag or prison boss, surely not a lot went into those games dev wise. The really 'serious' games, like ACE VR with a very realistic gun handling model and whatnot isn't exactly loaded with expensive assets, FWICT.

I dunno, maybe its really hard to develop those hand tracking and room mapping tools for devs to play with.
 
i stopped using facebook years ago but everytime someone shows me it it's somehow got even more buttons and nested menus and pages. it's like a giant makework project for UI designers gone mad

it'd be pretty hard for ai to make it worse, but maybe it'll find a way
 
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Dude, if most of these jobs are in Kirkland, Wa, than that is going be huge. Not a lot of people hiring but a whole lot of layoffs in the tech sector here.
 
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Virtual bloodbath...

Meta has closed three of its game development studios; Armature, Twisted Pixel Games, and Sanzaru Games.

www.gamespot.com

Meta Shuts Down The Studios Behind Deadpool VR, Asgard's Wrath 2, and Resident Evil 4 VR

Twisted Pixel Games, Sanzaru Games, and Armature Studio were all shut down by Meta as part of its latest wave of layoffs.
www.gamespot.com www.gamespot.com

These devs created some of the best-reviewed games on the Quest plaform (they together are responsible for RE4 VR, Deadpool VR, and Asgard's Wrath 1/2, respectively,) and also had history before being bought for Meta Studios projects. Armature made the short-time-in-the-spotlight Xbox exclusive ReCore, and also did the 2.5D Batman Arkham spinoff called Blackgate. Twisted Pixel was a weird little Texas studio which thrived in the 360 era with games like 'Splosion Man and became for a while Xbox's weirdo game maker with The Gunstringer and LocoCycle before turning to VR. And Sanzaru did the fourth Sly Cooper game (and worked on the HD remaster) and also did a few Sonic Boom games as well as Tron Run.

Camoflaj (makers of the renown Batman Arkham Shadow) seems to have survived for now.
 
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uncreativename said:
i stopped using facebook years ago but everytime someone shows me it it's somehow got even more buttons and nested menus and pages. it's like a giant makework project for UI designers gone mad

it'd be pretty hard for ai to make it worse, but maybe it'll find a way
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That is the surprising part - it's like it's stuck in that weird place between 2000s early websites and post-2015 slick UI. My guess is they do not want to change it because Boomers already know how to navigate it and they would just be confused an abandon the platform.
 
I wonder if Steam/Valve will buy up some of that talent as they work towards the Steam VR headset. If meta fires you does a non-compete clause still apply?
 
This is what makes working for money so weird. You could work for over a million years and still not reach 75 billion hamburger dollars. And yet one person can waste away that kind of money on strange projects and not be put in an asylum.
 
DeepEnigma said:
It's going to make for a powerful propaganda tool for nations and ideologies once it's where they want it to be.
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Just like it happened with mainstream media, people will stop taking seriously what's being said on the internet and only dumb Karens will believe the manipulated "consensus" being sold to them. Already anyone will an IQ over 100 doesn't believe anything being upvoted in sites like reddit because they know none of it is organic
 
Sonik said:
Just like it happened with mainstream media, people will stop taking seriously what's being said on the internet and only dumb Karens will believe the manipulated "consensus" being sold to them. Already anyone will an IQ over 100 doesn't believe anything being upvoted in sites like reddit because they know none of it is organic
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That's all they need though since they control the tool, the "polls," etc..

I do agree with you.
 
IntentionalPun said:
It's certainly better than just slop generation. It's used right now in software development quite extensively. Even if you don't let it generate code it can do code reviews like crazy and catch bugs, perf issues and security holes.

But it is pretty damn good at generating code, particularly smaller blocks of code as you build something.
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Don't really agree with this. We have access to Claude and CoPilot where I am at (where I actually lead) and "slop" is exactly what I would call its output. And no, it's not a "skill issue" or "you just didnt do it right" it simply doesn't produce great code. It's not even hard to figure this out. It's trained on basically all the information that's out there, and that is going to include pretty bad code, correct? Error is also built into the system. It's a giant probability machine.

I'm sure most of us have seen the "generate this same image 100 times" trend and how warped and ridiculously different pictures end up at the end of the pipeline. Now imagine using this same tool to write your code. This is an industry where the difference between a crap programmer and a brilliant programmer is like 100x. Don't believe me? Think about the engineers who invented the iPhone from scratch and everything they had to do on the software side to get it to work. Now think of all the "engineers" who can't even put together a decent web app. It's a massive gulf in capability and talent. But they are all "software engineers." If all you are hiring is crap programmers then maybe it's impressive but I've never seen it come close to the output of a great programmer.
 
Look the amount of good the AI is making for society. Maybe AI will eventually change the termology of society so it can justify throwing more people on the streets.
 
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Dr Bass said:
Don't really agree with this. We have access to Claude and CoPilot where I am at (where I actually lead) and "slop" is exactly what I would call its output. And no, it's not a "skill issue" or "you just didnt do it right" it simply doesn't produce great code. It's not even hard to figure this out. It's trained on basically all the information that's out there, and that is going to include pretty bad code, correct? Error is also built into the system. It's a giant probability machine.

I'm sure most of us have seen the "generate this same image 100 times" trend and how warped and ridiculously different pictures end up at the end of the pipeline. Now imagine using this same tool to write your code. This is an industry where the difference between a crap programmer and a brilliant programmer is like 100x. Don't believe me? Think about the engineers who invented the iPhone from scratch and everything they had to do on the software side to get it to work. Now think of all the "engineers" who can't even put together a decent web app. It's a massive gulf in capability and talent. But they are all "software engineers." If all you are hiring is crap programmers then maybe it's impressive but I've never seen it come close to the output of a great programmer.
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*shrug* I've had different experiences. Particularly as I mentioned with code reviews, but also used it pretty extensively for unit test generation.

I'm with you that the average programmer is absolute dogshit, and I think these tools are dangerous in their hands. But my most recent project where I used GenAI tools (some companies forbid them, I'm a consultant) I was working for a large tech firm on a very important codebase with very competent engineers. All of their engineers use the tooling daily, and all code reviews are reviewed by a GenAI scanner. Even just asking it questions can be really useful. Seen it accurately describe the architecture of a fairly complicated project (analyzed the CDK code, looked at all kinds of configurations, etc.).

I've been leading dev teams for 20 years and still code regularly so I'm not some slouch.
 
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winjer said:

Meta to lay off hundreds in Reality Labs amid shift from metaverse to AI






Mark Zuckerberg is a certifiable asshole.

fP8bsJyzBKE6bv6y.jpg
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The ever present end result of failing upward and incompetency at the top.
 
This is a bummer, as I like VR and want better headsets as the Quest 3 is already 2 years old. Hopefully they got a few more iterations left as well as good tools for others to use to integrate controllers and features into the headset. Not sure where all the money is going though, unless they are selling the headset waaaaaaaay under production costs. Is it really that demanding in personnel to code the 3D tracking aspects?
 
www.theverge.com

Meta is reportedly laying off up to 20 percent of its staff

Gotta pay for Moltbook somehow.
www.theverge.com www.theverge.com

According to Reuters, Meta is looking to offset spending on AI and data centers with a massive round of layoffs. Sources familiar with the matter say the company could lay off as much as 20 percent of its staff, eliminating roughly 15,800 positions. That would be the largest series of layoffs at the company since it terminated 22,000 workers over just a few months between November 2022 and early 2023.

Word of the potential downsizing comes after Meta signaled that it was all but giving up on VR and the Metaverse, slashing budgets and closing studios. Instead, the company has been spending big to attract AI talent, build data centers, and acquire companies like Moltbook.

Amid all this, the company has also repeatedly found itself in hot water over its smart glasses, chatbots, and its impact on teens.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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I was laid off 3 times in 5 years. The last time I said don't call me, because I am never working in tech again and went back to school.
The funny thing is Seattle wouldn't have to pass an income tax if they forced companies they gave tax breaks to hire locally and stop offshoring.
 
Unknown Soldier said:
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Companies don't need that. They can fire outright if they think they are useless.

Also the wave started when Elon bought Twitter and fired 95% of twitter employes (which hired around 1200 at the time of when he bought it), then run it with skeleton crew of like 50 people total for next year. In that time service never went down (there was a brief few hour outage only days after they bough it) and since then it increased and improved in more features than in whole twitter history.

Every CEO of tech company in the world saw with their own eyes that you don't actually need 90% of it workers, along with half of shit like lattes in bars, mass screaming sessions and so on.
 
pepeno said:
Companies don't need that. They can fire outright if they think they are useless.

Also the wave started when Elon bought Twitter and fired 95% of twitter employes (which hired around 1200 at the time of when he bought it), then run it with skeleton crew of like 50 people total for next year. In that time service never went down (there was a brief few hour outage only days after they bough it) and since then it increased and improved in more features than in whole twitter history.

Every CEO of tech company in the world saw with their own eyes that you don't actually need 90% of it workers, along with half of shit like lattes in bars, mass screaming sessions and so on.
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To be fair Twitter is absolutely God awful now.
 
My eyes need to adjust for about 15 minutes when I get up in the morning and I read the thread's title as "After burning through $75 Billion, Mets fires hundreds of employees, while it shifts to AI." 😆
Baseball Robot GIF by BrainPOP
 
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