Meta's New 6,500-Person 'Applied AI' Unit Erupts in Revolt; Engineers Call It a 'Gulag'

TechCrunch / WIRED·high signal

WIRED and TechCrunch report (June 12, 2026) that Meta's months-old Applied AI unit — about 6,500 engineers and PMs supporting Superintelligence Labs — is in open revolt, with staff calling assignments 'soul-crushing' and one livestreamed all-hands disrupted by an employee. Some were reassigned to generating puzzles to test AI models; Zuckerberg conceded in a Friday memo the reorg 'caused distress' and that Meta made mistakes, while ruling out further 2026 layoffs. The unit reports to chief AI officer Alexandr Wang, whose Scale AI was acquired for $14.3B.