New Delhi: Meta is deepening a two-tiered workforce that rewards a small section of AI talent with compensation while leaving the majority of employees facing job insecurity, intensified monitoring, and fading career prospects, a recent Bloomberg column said. The report portrays the social media giant as a prime example of how the AI revolution is creating new internal class divisions rather than flattening them.
The analysis found that Big Tech’s pursuit of artificial intelligence is producing a “K-shaped company.”
“Those who are part of the upper leg of the “K” are the AI elite, ascendant and thriving as they expand their paychecks and prestige,” wrote Beth Kowitt, a columnist for Bloomberg covering corporate America. “Those on the lower leg are treated as disposable — their futures more uncertain, their power waning.”
Meta has aggressively recruited top talent, with some packages for high-level AI researchers and engineers exceeding $200 million, as seen in poaching deals like that of Apple’s AI executive Ke Yang. According to various compensation surveys, total pay for top AI talent at companies like Meta, Google, and OpenAI often ranges from $500,000 to several million annually, including equity, far outpacing average software engineers.
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‘Soul crushing teams’
Meanwhile, rank-and-file employees outside core AI teams report strained conditions. Kowitt highlights accounts of “soul-crushing” teams and a “brutal” workplace environment. Some non-AI staff have seen accounts and budgets slashed even as Meta’s profits grow.
Meta projected spending of approximately $145 billion in 2026 on data centers, servers, and related infrastructure. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly said AI is the company’s top priority.
“Some of the have-nots, meanwhile, have been forced to work on a team that’s been described as being drafted into soul-crushing gulag. Headcounts have continuously been slashed and median compensation cut even as profits grow. Workers’ keystrokes and mouse clicks have been tracked to train the company’s AI agents,” wrote Kowitt.
A group of Meta workers filed a lawsuit alleging AI was used in layoffs in a way that disproportionately affected those on medical, parental, or family leave.
“Treating employees like replaceable cogs instead of partners is bad business,” noted Kowitt.
Silicon Valley has had a two-tier system of full-time employees versus contractors. Kowitt references the “shadow army” of temps and contractors who lack benefits. AI appears to be layering a new hierarchy atop this. This is predicted to lead to distrust among the company employees.
“In a K-shaped economy, distrust, fear and cynicism festers among those at the bottom. The same goes for a K-shaped company,” Kowitt warned.
(Edited by Stela Dey)