Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has acknowledged that the company’s AI agent development has progressed more slowly than expected, months after a sweeping restructuring aimed at accelerating its artificial intelligence ambitions.
Speaking during an internal town hall, Zuckerberg said Meta’s expectations for AI agents had not materialized as quickly as executives had anticipated. According to a recording heard by Reuters, he admitted that the company’s organizational changes had also not been as smooth as leadership had hoped.
“The trajectory of the agentic development over at least the last four months hasn’t really accelerated in the way that we expected,” Zuckerberg told employees. He added that the company’s restructuring bets “haven’t come to fruition yet.”
The comments come after Meta laid off around 10% of its global workforce and reassigned roughly 7,000 employees to AI-focused teams earlier this year. The restructuring was designed to support the company’s expanding investments in artificial intelligence and prepare for the wider adoption of AI-powered tools across its operations.
According to Zuckerberg, executives began planning the restructuring in early 2026 amid concerns that Meta was not moving quickly enough to adapt to rapid developments in AI. He said company leaders were particularly optimistic about advances in AI coding assistants and autonomous AI agents at the time.
Despite acknowledging slower-than-expected progress, Zuckerberg maintained that Meta remains committed to its AI strategy. He said the company expects to begin seeing more meaningful benefits from its AI investments within the next three to six months.
Meta is projected to spend as much as $145 billion on AI infrastructure this year, making it one of the largest investors in artificial intelligence alongside other major technology companies.
During the same town hall, Meta Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth also addressed concerns surrounding the company’s controversial mouse-tracking software, which had been paused after a review into a potential data security incident. Bosworth said the investigation found no employee data had been used for AI training and added that any future rollout of the software would be on an opt-in basis.
The remarks provide a rare glimpse into the challenges facing even the world’s largest technology companies as they race to develop increasingly capable AI systems while balancing large-scale organizational changes and significant infrastructure investments.
Source: Reuters
