Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth believes employees should use the extra time created by AI to get more work done rather than take additional time off. During an internal Q&A in July, he dismissed a question about bringing back the company’s former extra holiday program as “very dumb” and said he wanted employees to use that extra capacity to build “even more and cooler stuff” for users.
Business Insider first reported the exchange, which was also confirmed by three people on the call. It showing a wider debate in the tech industry about where the benefits of AI-driven efficiency should go – to workers who are becoming more productive or to companies investing heavily in the technology.
The report says an employee asked whether Meta’s rising productivity could lead to the return of “Meta Days,” a discontinued program that gave employees a few extra days off. Bosworth dismissed the suggestion, saying, “Stop asking about Meta Days. It’s very dumb.”
Bosworth also explained how he believes employees should use the time saved by AI. He said the goal should be to use that extra time to build better and more useful products. “I hope that what we do with our extra time is do even more and cooler stuff for the users who use our products every day,” he said. He pointed to his own routine as an example, adding, “I get an extra hour. You know what I do with it? I put it into that.”
Bosworth also asked the employee to consider how the request might be viewed by others. He suggested asking their parents what they would think about repeatedly asking a boss for more days off. “Ask your parents what they think of that as a career strategy,” he said.
Bosworth later apologized for coming down “too hard” on the employee who asked the question. He said he believed the question was meant to be “tongue-in-cheek.”
The comments come as Meta continues to reduce its workforce while spending heavily on AI. The company has cut between 10,000 and 11,000 jobs over the past year, while its AI-related capital spending reached $92.43 billion over the same period. Against that backdrop, bringing back extra paid time off appears to be a low priority.
The question of how AI productivity gains should affect working hours is still being debated. Senator Bernie Sanders said on the Joe Rogan Experience last year that workers should benefit from the time saved by AI instead of using it for additional work. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has expressed a different view, arguing against dramatically shorter work weeks and recently suggesting that people enjoy their jobs too much to stop working. Bosworth’s comments are closer to Altman’s position, treating AI-driven efficiency as a chance to increase output rather than reduce workloads.
Maybe you would like other interesting articles?