• Some Meta workers impacted by Monday's job cuts were surprised since they said they had strong track records.
• Meta's layoffs targeted 5% of low performers. Some higher-rated staff said they were "blindsided."
• Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been pushing to streamline the company's workforce.

Several Meta employees who said they received positive performance ratings in their mid-year reviews last year had their jobs cut Monday, as the company let go of nearly 4,000 workers in its latest round of job reductions.

Business Insider spoke to eight terminated employees, who said they received "At or Above Expectations" ratings — the middle tier in Meta's three-level mid-year review system — in their 2024 assessments. These employees said they were surprised to learn their ratings had been downgraded to "Meets Most," one of the lower tiers in Meta's year-end performance system that refers to meeting most, but not all, expectations and could make them eligible for Monday's cuts. They asked to be anonymous because they were not authorized to discuss internal company matters.

The job cuts stem from Meta's push to let go of roughly 5% of its lowest-performing employees, according to internal guidance sent to managers in January. While Meta framed these cuts as targeting underperforming workers, internal guidance sent last month by Hillary Champion, Meta's director of people experience, and viewed by BI, allowed managers to include employees from higher performance tiers if they couldn't meet their reduction targets from lower-rated employees alone.

Some employees said they were caught off guard by their inclusion in the cuts, as this guidance had previously only been shared with managers, not with the broader workforce.

"When I received the email I was surprised by it mostly because I have a very solid performance history and no indicators of the last six months of performance problems," one affected employee told BI.

Meta began its year-end performance review process for 2024 in December, although most employees wouldn't learn their final ratings until the coming weeks.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been pushing to streamline Meta's workforce as the company pours billions into artificial intelligence and virtual reality. The cuts could become an annual event as Meta aims to regularly trim what it considers its lowest performers. Meanwhile, Meta plans to ramp up the hiring of machine learning engineers to work on AI.

Meta did not respond to a request for comment from BI.

Meta downgraded some employees' ratings

Multiple employees told BI that they felt frustrated that Meta had publicly framed the layoffs as targeting consistently low performers when some of those affected had previously received strong performance reviews.

In posts on Workplace, Meta's internal communications platform, several laid-off employees shared their performance histories, according to screenshots viewed by BI. One employee who said they were "unexpectedly" terminated posted documentation showing they had consistently met or exceeded expectations for four years before being downgraded to "Meets Most" in late 2024. Another employee reported being cut shortly after returning from parental leave, despite receiving an "At or Above Expectations" rating in early 2024.

"I am super confused how I got terminated," they wrote. "I still think this is an error."

The sudden downgrade in performance ratings left many employees feeling misrepresented by Meta's public stance on the layoffs. Some employees worried that being branded as a "low performer" publicly could harm future employment prospects.

"The hardest part is Meta publicly stating they're cutting low performers, so it feels like we have the scarlet letter on our backs," another employee told BI. "People need to know we're not underperformers."

"I would certainly challenge Meta's narrative about cutting only low performers," another affected employee said. "I have a really, really difficult time believing I was a low performer based on past feedback I was given by my manager."

Another employee said their manager had given them no indication that their job was at risk.

"We were told by leadership that if we would be impacted by this then we would already be expecting it, based on conversations our managers should have been having with us in our weekly one-on-ones," one former employee said. "But I was completely blindsided by this. My manager had been telling me that I have been doing great and did not provide any areas to be worked on. My manager even said that I would be fine and not impacted."

Likewise, another worker who received an "Exceeds Expectations" rating in their mid-year review said they were surprised to be "dropped two ratings" to "Meets Most" without explanation.

"We are not even able to see the feedback that our manager wrote for us," they said.

If you're a current or former Meta employee, or have an insight to share about the company, contact Pranav Dixit from a nonwork device securely on Signal at +1-408-905-9124 or email him at [email protected].

Reach Jyoti Mann via email at [email protected] or via Signal at jyotimann.11. Get in touch with Hugh Langley at [email protected] or reach him on Signal at hughlangley.01

• Meta has begun to cut thousands of jobs to focus on AI investment and efficiency.
• Mark Zuckerberg is targeting low performers, part of a broader industry move toward leaner operations.
• Some employees told Business Insider they're anxious about the changes.

Meta has begun to cut thousands of jobs as the social media giant takes a tougher stance on underperforming employees and readies its finances for another year of heavy AI investment. Affected employees in Europe, Asia, and the US have started to be notified, per an internal post viewed by Business Insider.

The company has said it will eliminate roughly 5% of its workforce, which could mean almost 4,000 employees lose their jobs.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg told staff in January he would "raise the bar" and move quickly to remove low performers, according to an internal memo seen by BI.

This is part of a broader push by Big Tech companies to make themselves leaner after a hiring spree during the pandemic. Microsoft, Amazon, Salesforce, and others are collectively eliminating thousands of employees.

Zuckerberg has been at the forefront of this, announcing a "year of efficiency" in 2023 that has continued through last year and into 2025. Wall Street has rewarded Meta for this new focus, sending the company's shares soaring since the start of 2023 — a run that's added more than $1 trillion to Meta's market valuation. 

While Meta remained profitable through recent periods of heavy hiring and big spending, the company is now racing to keep up with rivals in the generative-AI race. This requires billions of dollars in infrastructure and related investment. That's likely putting pressure on Zuckerberg to seek cost savings elsewhere. 

A Meta spokesperson declined to comment.

Impact on some employees

Meta is offering impacted workers in the US a severance package that includes 16 weeks of pay and an additional two weeks for every year of service, according to two people familiar with the matter.

For some Meta employees, the efficiency drive is causing anxiety. These staffers asked not to be identified discussing sensitive topics.

"Mark is creating fear," a Meta employee told BI. "He's creating a culture where you have to be loyal to him or else."

Another employee said that working at Meta right now "feels like living in a George Orwell novel."

Even colleagues who have performed well "have been disappearing all year, and when you ask about it, you're just told, 'They're no longer with the company,'" this person said. "Self-censorship is rampant. At a company supposedly dedicated to connecting people, the human side of our work is disappearing, and everyone is acting more robotic."

Another Meta employee said reductions shouldn't be branded as performance-based cuts because this could damage people's reputations as they seek other opportunities.

"Now people have to go back out into the job market with a label that is incredibly unfair," this person added.

They expressed concern that good employees would be cut just to meet quotas and that this could have a negative impact on morale.

"What's the incentive to help a new hire ramp up if they're just going to stack rank us and probably do this all again next year?" this person added.

How Meta's latest job cuts may work

The job cuts are designed to target employees who receive "met some" or "did not meet" ratings, the bottom two categories in Meta's assessment system, in their performance reviews.

Internal guidance obtained by BI last month says managers must identify 12% to 15% of employees eligible for these ratings. Meta aims to reach 10% "nonregrettable attrition" by combining these cuts with previous departures. For example, if a team had 5% attrition in 2024, managers would need to identify another 7% to 10% of their employees for the bottom ratings to meet the target.

One Meta employee told BI that forcing managers to place team members into bottom categories for job cuts had spread anxiety through the management ranks as well as the rank and file.

On Friday, employees received a memo from Janelle Gale, Meta's vice president of human resources, detailing how the process should work. The memo, which was obtained by BI, said affected employees would be notified through their work and personal email addresses and lose access to company systems within an hour of being informed. They'll receive information on their severance packages in the same email, it added.

The notifications will be staggered across time zones, with employees in the Asia Pacific region being notified first, followed by those in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and then, finally, North and Latin America, the memo said.

Employees in European countries such as Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands will be exempt from this process because of local regulations and will instead follow local performance management processes, the memo said. Meta intends to backfill these roles, it added, but plans and timelines "may vary."

How Meta is reorganizing itself

Amid the cuts, the social media giant is also reorganizing some of its businesses and divisions.

The company is merging its Facebook and Messenger teams under Facebook's chief, Tom Alison, while Messenger's head, Loredana Crisan, is set to move to the generative-AI group, The Information said.

Meta's Reality Labs division, which has lost nearly $60 billion since 2020, is being more tightly integrated with Meta's main business, reversing some of Zuckerberg's 2021 reorganization. In an internal memo obtained by BI, Reality Labs' chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, said Reality Labs had "become a positive driver for Meta's overall brand."

• Meta has enacted rules that bar employees from discussing politics, health, and weapons at work.
• These Community Engagement Expectations restrict mocking topics within a protected category, like race.
• Some employees formed CEE Watch to monitor post removals.

Some Meta employees are questioning the company's removal of their posts and comments from its internal forum.

Employees created a group on its internal Workplace forum to share their experiences in posts that have been seen by Business Insider.

In 2022, Meta rolled out internal rules barring employees from discussing contentious topics such as politics, health, and weapons. The guidelines, which Meta calls Community Engagement Expectations, also ban comments and posts that are seen as mocking topics related to a protected category, such as race, gender, or religion.

Some Meta employees have accused the company of using the CEE system to censor valid discussions. A number of staffers recently created an internal employee resource group called CEE Watch so that Meta staff could flag when a post has been removed, according to internal documents seen by BI.

"CEE language is intentionally vague and we cannot know how it's being enforced without openly sharing our violations with each other," a welcome post on the CEE Watch page says.

CEE Watch had over 800 members at the time of publishing, a small fraction of Meta's 72,000-strong workforce.

A Meta spokesperson said the company didn't remove internal employee comments just because it doesn't agree with or like them. They added that many critical comments remained up on Meta's internal communications boards.

One employee wrote that multiple posts regarding Palestinians had been removed over the past year. The person questioned how employees could engage in discussions of "what are acceptable forms of identity to discuss at work."

Another person commented, saying that it was an "open secret" in the "Muslim@" employee resource group that "relatively" harmless posts had been removed.

A different person added that their post about grieving slain family members was removed.

While free speech is a fundamental constitutional right in public spaces, it does not extend to private corporations. As private entities, companies have the legal authority to establish their own policies regarding what employees can or cannot say in the workplace.

But US employees are allowed to discuss wrongdoing by their companies and other workplace-related issues, like safety, harassment, and accommodations for people with disabilities.

The CEE guidelines were last updated in October, according to a copy of them viewed by BI.

They say it's "not okay" for employees to share content that has the "potential to trigger disruptive comments" around topics including: "political movements or causes relating to states, nations, or people (e.g., opinions on forms of governments, political systems, or economic systems; sharing national flags in ways that imply opinions on political movements or causes or slogans like 'Free Puerto Rico'; 'Liberate Hong Kong'; 'Make America Great Again'; 'Build Back Better'; 'Free Palestine'; or 'Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow!')."

In a separate post, titled "communications around LGBTQ healthcare and health plans," one employee said they asked Meta's employment law group if LGBTQ+ employees and their children would continue to have access to gender-affirming care after Meta's public benefits page removed mention of it.

The person said they "heard back that there were no plans to update the plan, but that they would comply with applicable laws."

Another person said a drag performance group, which did an act for one of the company's pride employee resource groups, was investigated by the company and later banned because it claimed the group violated the CEE guidelines. This person said the performance was livestreamed across the ERG and was met with positive reviews.

"This feels like a disproportional punishment for this performer and impacts their livelihood," the person wrote. "I'm currently escalating this case now, but I thought it would be helpful to share that CEE also applies to guests of Meta (apparently even retroactively too)."

In a comment under the post, the original poster claimed that during his in-person conversation with the internal community relations team, "they said that 'those kinds of people are high risk for violating content' (referring to drag performers)." The poster added: "I left the conversation extremely upset."

This person shared a message from the internal community relations team that said the drag group's performance in 2022 violated the CEE and other company policies, "including multiple remarks degrading about various protected categories, and multiple instances of sexual content shared."

Meta employees are increasingly vocal about the company's content moderation on its internal forums, with some directly challenging what they view as censorship of workplace discussions.

"This is a free speech issue," one employee wrote after one of their posts was removed by Meta's internal moderators. It linked to a news article about Donald Trump saying that Meta's CEO was "probably" changing the company's direction in response to Trump's previous threats to jail him.

The employee questioned how Meta, a company meant to be "hardened against threats," could restrict internal discourse about its own leadership.

A six-year employee in Meta's civic integrity team described deteriorating trust between leadership and staff.

"When you tell people they should resign if they don't agree with your decisions, this belies a lack of trust in your people," they wrote.

The CEE guidelines say "consequences for violating this policy vary depending on the severity of the violation and other context such as a person's prior conduct." They list disciplinary action, including termination of employment, as one example.

One employee in Reality Labs, Meta's virtual reality division, said it was ironic to have "debate openly" as a core principle as posts were removed.

"Attempts to even have the most polite discussion that acknowledges how people are responding to policy changes" were deleted, they wrote. They also expressed concern about whether there would be retaliation in Meta's coming layoffs for discussing workplace conditions.

More employees wrote that there was a climate of fear around posting, with content sometimes being removed within minutes without explanation.

One worker said colleagues deleted comments and self-censored "because they were afraid they might be targeted by CEE and management for even reacting positively to a post."

"I have very mixed feelings about Meta at this point," the civic integrity employee wrote, a sentiment that was shared across multiple posts.

"The greatest value of this company is not its products or its technology but its people. They make all of it possible," this employee said. "The leadership of this company maybe understood that at some point, but they seem to have forgotten it."

Are you a Meta employee? Got insight to share? Contact the reporter Jyoti Mann via email at [email protected] or via Signal at jyotimann.11. Reach out from a nonwork device.

If you're a current or former Meta employee, contact Pranav from a nonwork device securely on Signal at +1-408-905-9124 or email him at [email protected].

Got a tip? You can reach Hugh using the secure messaging app Signal (+1 628-228-1836) or secure email ([email protected]).

• Verily, the life sciences unit owned by Alphabet, intends to sell its stop-loss insurance business.
• Verily had entered an agreement to sell the business, named Granular, to Elevance Health.
• Verily has been trying to cut back on projects and reorient its strategy around AI.

Verily, Alphabet's life science group, entered an agreement to sell its insurance subsidiary to Elevance Health.

In an email to staff last month, Verily CEO Stephen Gillett announced that Granular had entered into an agreement to be acquired by the US health insurance giant.

"This is an exciting step for the Granular business, as it will benefit significantly in its next stage of growth from Elevance Health's extensive capabilities," Gillett wrote on January 16 in the email, which was reviewed by Business Insider.

Granular sells stop-loss insurance, which is sometimes taken out by employers who pay their workforce's medical bills and want to limit their financial exposure. Granular specializes in using data science to help employers control their costs and reduce risk.

"Elevance Health is also excited and sees tremendous value in the Granular team, their processes, technology, and more diversified range of healthcare solutions for self-funded employers who are seeking effective ways to manage their healthcare costs," Gillett wrote in the memo.

A Verily spokesperson confirmed this agreement and said that the terms of the deal are not disclosed.

"I can confirm Verily has entered into an agreement to sell its stop-loss insurance subsidiary, Granular Insurance Company, to Elevance Health," the spokesperson said in a statement. "Granular was launched in 2020 and utilizes innovative, proprietary technology to deliver medical stop-loss, reinsurance, and fronting solutions for self-funded employers and captives."

Verily has been on a mission to cut projects and reorient its strategy around AI, BI reported in December. The company, which was spun out of Google's moonshot group in 2015 and continues to sit alongside the search giant, has primarily focused on using data analytics to improve healthcare. Along the way, it has explored a wide range of projects, including surgical robots, glucose-tracking contact lenses, and editing mosquito populations.

In 2020, Verily announced it would launch a new insurance business, then known as the Coefficient Insurance Company, which was backed by Swiss Re Group. In 2021, it was rebranded as Granular Insurance.

Current and former Verily employees have told BI that Granular became one of the company's biggest revenue generators.

While Alphabet still owns it, Verily has been removing itself from Google's technical infrastructure to eventually separate from the company entirely. As of January, many of its systems are independent. The company was also looking to raise another round of capital as of December, BI previously reported.

Are you a current or former Verily or Google employee with more to share? You can reach this reporter using the secure messaging app Signal (+1 628-228-1836) or secure email ([email protected]). We can keep you anonymous.

• Google has ended hiring targets tied to representation, BI confirmed.
• The company also said it is evaluating its DEI programs.
• Target, Meta, and other major US companies have also reduced DEI-related policies and programs.

Google will no longer pursue hiring goals tied to representation, Business Insider confirmed. The change makes the tech giant the latest US company to pull back on DEI-related policies.

The company is also evaluating its DEI programs and initiatives.

"We're committed to creating a workplace where all our employees can succeed and have equal opportunities, and over the last year we've been reviewing our programs designed to help us get there," a Google spokesperson told Business Insider.

The spokesperson said the company had updated language in its annual 10-K report to reflect the change.

"As a federal contractor, our teams are also evaluating changes required following recent court decisions and executive orders on this topic," the spokesperson added. The Wall Street Journal first reported the change to Google's hiring targets.

Business Insider obtained an emailed Q&A with Google's Chief People Officer Fiona Cicconi, which expanded on the plans.

Google staff will be "evaluating programs, trainings, and initiatives, and will update them as needed — including those that raise risk, or that aren't as impactful as we'd hoped," read the Q&A.

On his first day in office, President Donald Trump swiftly signed an executive order terminating DEI "mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities" in the federal government. Trump also criticized DEI programs and diversity-related hiring goals at private companies on the campaign trail and since taking office.

Google set a goal in 2020 to increase leadership representation of Black+, Latinx+, and Native American+ employees by 30%. It reached that goal in 2022, according to the company's annual diversity report.

Google's decision to shift its hiring goals reflects a growing number of companies pulling back on DEI initiatives, beginning before Trump was reelected. Some of the companies that scaled back diversity efforts before his inauguration include Walmart, Ford, John Deere, Tractor Supply Company, and Lowe's.

Meta also announced last month it will no longer have a team focused on DEI and Target recently said it will end multiple programs related to DEI.

Some companies have defended their DEI programs and policies in recent weeks, including Costco and JPMorgan.

Here's the full text of the Google memo obtained by Business Insider:

With new U.S. Executive Orders, court decisions, and many companies making changes to their DEl programs in recent weeks, we sat down with Fiona Cicconi to learn how Google is thinking about this.

Can you tell us how we're thinking about this across the company?

First, I want to be clear: we've always been committed to creating a workplace where we hire the best people wherever we operate, create an environment where everyone can thrive, and treat everyone fairly. That's exactly what you can expect to see going forward. Our users come from all across the US and around the world, and we serve them better when our employees do, too.

Every year, we review the programs designed to help us get there and make changes. And because we are a federal contractor, our teams are also evaluating changes to our programs required to comply with recent court decisions and U.S. Executive Orders on this topic. For example, in 2020, we set aspirational hiring goals and focused on growing our offices outside California and New York to improve representation. We'll continue to invest in states across the US — and in many countries globally — but in the future we will no longer have aspirational goals.

You mentioned we'll evaluate our programs. Can you share more about that?

Melonie Parker and her team will lead on closely and carefully evaluating programs, trainings, and initiatives, and will update them as needed — including those that raise risk, or that aren't as impactful as we'd hoped. She'll work with senior leaders across the company.

And is there anything else you want Googlers to know now?

While there will be changes, our central Employee Resource Groups will remain, as will our work with colleges and universities, and our work to build products to help all our users and partners. That is all vital work for our business and our Googler community.

Do you work at Google? Reach out to the reporter from a non-work email and device at [email protected]

• Google's new AI guidelines removed a promise not to use AI for weapons or surveillance.
• Some employees have been reacting on the company's internal message board.
• Google said it's important for businesses and governments to work together for "national security."

After Google retracted its promise not to use artificial intelligence for weapons or surveillance, some employees posted their reactions on the company's internal message board.

The company said on Tuesday that it had updated its ethical AI guidelines, which lay out how Google will and won't use its technology. The new version removed wording that vowed Google wouldn't use AI to build weapons, surveillance tools, or "technologies that cause or are likely to cause overall harm."

Several Google employees expressed dismay at the change on the company's internal message board, Memegen, according to posts shared with Business Insider.

One meme showed CEO Sundar Pichai querying Google's search engine for "how to become weapons contractor?"

Another employee riffed on a popular meme of an actor dressed as a Nazi soldier in a TV comedy sketch. "Google lifts a ban on using its AI for weapons and surveillance," it read. "Are we the baddies?"

Another post showed Sheldon from "The Big Bang Theory" asking why Google would drop its red line for weapons, seeing reports about Google working more closely with defense customers including the Pentagon, and responding, "Oh, that's why."

The three memes were among the top-voted among employees on Wednesday. However, these were shared by just a handful of Google staffers. The company has more than 180,000 employees; these comments reflect a fraction of the workforce. Some Googlers may support tech companies working more closely with defense customers and the US government.

In recent years there has been a shift among some tech companies and startups toward offering more of their technology, including AI tools, for defense purposes.

While Google didn't directly acknowledge the removal of the wording, Demis Hassabis, the CEO of Google DeepMind, and James Manyika, a senior vice president for technology and society, wrote a blog post on Tuesday in which they described an "increasingly complex geopolitical landscape" and said it was important for businesses and governments to work together in the interest of "national security."

"We believe democracies should lead in AI development, guided by core values like freedom, equality, and respect for human rights," they wrote. "And we believe that companies, governments, and organizations sharing these values should work together to create AI that protects people, promotes global growth, and supports national security."

Reached for comment, a Google spokesperson pointed BI to the company's Tuesday blog post.

In 2018, Google employees protested a program with the Pentagon that used Google's AI for warfare. The company abandoned the contract and laid out AI principles that included examples of things it wouldn't pursue, explicitly mentioning weapons and surveillance tools.

The blog post about the 2018 principles now includes a link at the top pointing users to the updated guidelines.

Google's decision to draw red lines around weaponry has left it out of military deals signed by other tech giants, including Amazon and Microsoft. Huge strides in AI have been made since 2018, and the US is now competing with China and other countries for supremacy in the technology.

Are you a current or former Google employee with more to share? You can reach this reporter using the secure messaging app Signal (+1 628-228-1836) or secure email ([email protected]). We can keep you anonymous.

• Meta kicked off 2025 with big changes following a big year for the company.
• In the first weeks of January, it overhauled its content moderation system, nixed DEI programs, and announced layoffs.
• The "rather frenzied start" to the new year sets up an apparent "year of intensity," one analyst told BI.

Coming off of a banner year in 2024, Meta is hitting the ground running in 2025.

With a new president in the White House and the AI arms race in full swing amid DeepSeek mania, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has kept busy.

Referring to Meta's January as "a rather frenzied start," Forrester VP and research director Mike Proulx said that the company's past "year of efficiency" was being "trumped in 2025 with an apparent year of 'intensity.'"

The company made several big announcements in the first week of the new year ahead of Trump's inauguration, and in audio from Meta's all-hands meeting this week obtained by Business Insider, Zuckerberg told employees to "buckle up."

"Everyone always says that every year is a big year, right?" Zuckerberg said.

"When I look at the kind of long-term trajectory for the stuff that we're doing this year, I think by the end of this year we're going to have a much clearer sense of the trajectory of a lot of the long-term things that we're doing, whether that's AI or glasses, or a number of areas around the future of social media, a number of key partnerships that we're working on," the Meta CEO said.

"This year feels a little more like a sprint to me," he added.

New year, new policies that will impact your News Feed

If 2025 represents a sprint for Meta, the first leg of the race saw some of its biggest changes in years.

The most impactful for Meta's billions of users was announced on January 7, when Zuckerberg messaged that Meta's content moderation policy would be overhauled.

In a controversial decision, Meta said that it would sunset its third-party fact-checking in favor of community notes, similar to that of Elon Musk's X, formerly known as Twitter.

Zuckerberg said Wednesday he thinks a community notes model "is just going to be more effective."

The company also loosened its hate speech policies and announced that it would return to promoting political discussions in its apps.

The policy changes may not move the needle much on the ad dollars spent on Meta's platforms as its size alone makes it a "must-have" for advertisers, Truist Securities analyst Youssef Squali told BI.

"Large advertisers will tell you that. Small advertisers will tell you that," the analyst said. "So there's scarcity value for advertisers and their ability to access some of these platforms that actually work for them."

Meta CFO Susan Li said in Wednesday's earnings call that the company hasn't observed a noticeable difference in ad spending since the announcement a few weeks ago. When reached for comment, Meta referred BI to Zuckerberg's video and its blog post on the content moderation changes.

Collectively, Meta's policy overhaul means big changes are coming to your Instagram, Threads, and Facebook news feeds.

Meta maneuvers closer to Trump

The content moderation policy overhaul is one of a slew of recent changes at Meta widely viewed as a way to appease President Trump, who frequently criticized and even threatened the company and its chief executive in the past.

Trump told reporters the content moderation changes were "probably" in response to threats he's made to Meta.

Following a dinner with the president at Mar-a-Lago and Meta's $1 million donation to his inauguration fund, Zuckerberg was one of a handful of tech execs seated close to Trump during his swearing-in ceremony on January 20.

"Having Trump coming back into office — and we all know Trump's position with regards to Meta and Zuck, in particular — I feel there was a lot of pressure for him to revisit his stance," Truist Securities' Squali told BI of the content moderation changes.

Meta's chief marketing officer, Alex Schultz, previously told BI that Trump's election win, coupled with shifting "vibes in America," were factors in the content moderation overhaul.

Other big changes include the company rolling back its programs for DEI. Diversity programs have been a frequent target for Trump and other conservative activist groups.

In Wednesday's earnings call, Zuckerberg said 2025 would be "a big year for redefining our relationship with governments." He added that he's "optimistic" about the Trump administration, saying it "prioritizes American technology winning" and "will defend our values and interests abroad."

Meta also made some personnel changes that could help it better navigate the next four years.

Ahead of the administration change, Meta named Joel Kaplan its new chief global affairs officer. Kaplan, a former adviser to George W. Bush and a longtime Republican lobbyist for Meta, replaced Nick Clegg, former leader of the UK's Liberal Democrats, in the position.

Meta also added several new names to its board of directors, specifically tech investor Charlie Songhurst, Exor CEO John Elkann, and UFC chief Dana White. Zuckerberg, an MMA hobbyist, has been photographed with White, a longtime friend of Trump, multiple times in recent years.

And in a recent move to end a legal battle involving Trump, Meta also agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit the president brought against it and Zuckerberg after Facebook suspended his account in 2021 following the January 6 Capitol riots.

Plans for layoffs and doubling down on AI

Meta's work to reshape its workforce, which began in late 2022, shows no signs of slowing down as it races to keep up with AI pioneer OpenAI and newcomers like Chinese AI startup DeepSeek.

In a memo obtained earlier this month by BI, Meta announced layoffs coming in February for 5% of its workforce, targeting its "lowest performers."

However, discussing its quarterly earnings on Wednesday, Meta said it plans to hire in "the priority areas of infrastructure, monetization, Reality Labs, generative artificial intelligence (AI), as well as regulation and compliance."

The company expects to spend $60 to $65 billion in capital expenditures this year as it barrels full-steam ahead on AI, a significant increase from $39.23 billion in 2024, which already raised eyebrows among investors and analysts.

Zuckerberg said Wednesday he thinks 2025 will be the year an AI assistant hits 1 billion users, and naturally he wants that of Meta AI. He also teased upcoming news about its Llama 4 AI model and hinted at getting back to "some OG Facebook" this year.

Responding to Wall Street analysts' questions about DeepSeek, Zuckerberg said it was important for a US firm to set the standard on open-source AI "for our own national advantage."

"I think that, if anything, some of the recent news has only strengthened our conviction that this is the right thing for us to be focused on," Zuckerberg said.

In audio from Meta's all-hands meeting on Thursday, Meta CFO Susan Li said the company is "excited for the roadmap" this year and for AI initiatives "driving further momentum" that would "fuel 2025 growth."

Do you work at Meta? Contact the reporters from a non-work email and device at [email protected] and [email protected].

• Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees there would be no changes to the hybrid work policy.
• In a meeting held Thursday, the Meta chief said "the status quo is fine."
• Most employees are expected to work in an office at least three days a week.

The future of in-office work was top of mind for Meta employees on Thursday during a wide-ranging Q&A with CEO Mark Zuckerberg, according to a recording of the meeting reviewed by Business Insider. The bottom line? No changes for now.

Most Meta employees are expected to head into the office at least three days a week, but some staff have worried the company would change the policy and demand a full in-office return.

Following a long opening monologue that touched on AI assistants, augmented-reality glasses, and the "intense" year ahead, Zuckerberg turned to questions submitted by staff. The top-voted question was about remote work.

"Basic summary: no change," Zuckerberg told staff. "There's a lot of things going on in the world. I just have not been focused on this at all. I think the status quo is fine. Carry on."

Zuckerberg's answer was met with applause by employees watching the all-hands live. The Meta chief remarked that two of the top-five voted questions submitted concerned in-office work.

Meta's three-day policy is in line with those of some other Big Tech companies, including Google. However, some companies want workers back full time. Dell sent a memo to employees on Friday calling them back into the office five days a week.

At Thursday's all-hands, Zuckerberg told employees to "buckle up" for an "intense" year ahead. He defended several recent changes around content moderation and fact-checking and said the company had an opportunity to have a "productive partnership with the United States government."

Zuckerberg also discussed how DeepSeek could benefit Meta's open-source artificial intelligence strategy and why Meta was slow to respond to TikTok's rise.

Do you work at Meta? Contact BI reporters from a nonwork email and device at [email protected] or [email protected]. You can also reach them via Signal at hughlangley.01 or jyotimann.11.

• Mark Zuckerberg addressed several recent policy changes in a company all-hands meeting on Thursday.
• Zuckerberg admitted that the company was slow to respond to TikTok's rapid growth.
• The CEO also told employees to "buckle up" for an "intense" year ahead.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged the company was slow to respond to TikTok's meteoric rise because executives didn't view it as truly social, offering a rare window into how the tech giant missed one of social media's biggest shifts in recent years.

"When I look back on TikTok, I think part of the reason why we were slow to it is because we didn't think TikTok was social," Zuckerberg said in a recording of an all-hands meeting obtained by Business Insider. "We looked at it and we thought, 'Oh, this is like, a little more like YouTube.'"

The admission came in response to an employee's question about whether Meta's current focus on artificial intelligence might cause the company to miss the next major social media trend, as it did with TikTok.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Zuckerberg explained at the meeting that Meta's traditional view of social interaction — centered around friends posting content and commenting — caused the company to initially misread TikTok's appeal. The company failed to recognize how users were sharing TikTok content through private messages, which has become a crucial form of social interaction across Meta's platforms.

"Because we were too dismissive up front, it wasn't just about people commenting in the feed. It was about people seeing stuff in their feed and then sharing it into message threads," Zuckerberg said, referring to the company's instant messaging platforms WhatsApp, Messenger, and direct messaging in Instagram, where "the majority of social interaction is happening."

Zuckerberg also addressed TikTok's uncertain future in the US. President Trump signed an executive order on January 20 that gave TikTok 75 more days to operate in the US, as owner ByteDance will either have to divest from TikTok or it will be banned in the US.

"We don't have control of what's going to happen to Tiktok," Zuckerberg said. "We have a lot of competitors, but they're an important one. So, who's gonna own Tiktok at the end of the year? What's gonna happen? I mean, that's a pretty big deal, something that's a card that we get to turn over."

Looking ahead, Zuckerberg emphasized that the company needs to avoid taking "too narrow of a view" of social interaction as it navigates the emergence of AI. He outlined a vision for AI-powered features in Facebook and Instagram feeds, including interactive AI agents that users can converse with and more immersive content experiences.

"I think the next trend here is there're going to be things that either AI can produce, that we can just put in there... I think this year we're gonna have stuff where it's like, okay, you have an AI agent, and you can just start talking to it," Zuckerberg said.

The Meta chief also pushed back against concerns that the company's AI investments might detract from its core social media business, noting that as a large company, Meta needs to be able to "walk and chew gum at the same time."

"If we can't build Facebook and [the] next platform at the same time, then, like, eventually game over," he said.

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• Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressed Chinese AI startup DeepSeek's latest model in an all-hands.
• The Meta chief praised its "novel infrastructure optimization advances" in a recording seen by BI.
• Zuckerberg also said it would "benefit" Meta as it can implement some of DeepSeek's methods.

Though DeepSeek may have caused panic among tech investors this week, Meta executives told staff on Thursday that the Chinese startup's breakthrough could ultimately benefit Meta's AI ambitions in the long run.

In a Q&A during a Thursday company all-hands, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was asked for his thoughts on DeepSeek and how Meta should respond or pivot its infrastructure spend to set itself up for success, according to a recording reviewed by Business Insider.

Zuckerberg responded that he doesn't think it changes the company's infrastructure spend.

"DeepSeek had a few pretty novel infrastructure optimization advances, which, fortunately, they published them, so we can not only observe what they did, but we can read about it and implement it, so that'll benefit us," Zuckerberg said.

Zuckerberg also said that it's "always interesting when there's someone who does something better than you" and that it motivates him to "make sure we're on it."

Last week, Zuckerberg announced in social media posts on Meta platforms that the company will spend $60 billion to $65 billion in additional capital investment for the year and said 2025 will be a "defining year for AI."

Nvidia, which builds AI chips, plunged in value this week amid a $1 trillion tech sell-off in the markets over fears that DeepSeek had leapfrogged US AI labs, as the Chinese startup said its R1 model rivaled OpenAI's o1 across several benchmarks and that it was built for a fraction of the cost and compute power.

DeepSeek's claims have caused investors to question Big Tech firms' spending on AI infrastructure, and shares plummetted. By Wednesday, tech stocks had partially recovered.

Meta CFO Susan Li told staff on Thursday that Meta was "seen as more insulated" from DeepSeek's market impact than other companies because it didn't rely on selling its own open-source AI model, Llama, to generate revenue.

"Does it mean that over the longer run, Meta will have to spend less on infrastructure investment or get more for their existing their existing investment?" Li said. "That's definitely sort of what I've heard so far in a few calls since the earnings call yesterday with our analysts and our investors in terms of parsing where reactions are."

Meta declined to comment.

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• Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told staffers in a Thursday all-hands to be ready for an "intense year."
• Zuckerberg addressed Meta's rollback of its DEI programs and work with the US government.
• He said that AI could lead to some roles becoming redundant, as well as hiring more engineers.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees Thursday in a company all-hands meeting to "buckle up" for an "intense" year ahead and addressed several recent policy changes.

Zuckerberg opened the all-hands by emphasizing a sense of urgency for the year. He told staff that he expected to have a clearer sense of the company's trajectory by the end of 2025 and that AI would be top of mind. He also addressed recent policy changes related to fact-checking and programs for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

"This is a marathon, not a sprint," he said in a recording reviewed by Business Insider. "But honestly, this year feels a little more like a sprint to me."

Meta declined to comment.

Meta is betting on AI

In a wide-ranging opening monologue, Zuckerberg predicted that 2025 would be the year a "highly intelligent and personalized" digital assistant reached 1 billion users.

"I think whoever gets there first is going to have a long-term, durable advantage towards building one of the most important products in history," Zuckerberg said, according to the recording.

Zuckerberg also reiterated his belief that this would be the year Meta started seeing AI agents take on work, including writing software. Asked whether this would lead to job cuts, Zuckerberg said it was "hard to know" and that while it may lead to some roles becoming redundant, it could lead to hiring more engineers who can harness artificial intelligence to be more productive.

"The nature of what engineering is in the future will be different than it is today," he said.

Meta made recent policy changes

Zuckerberg touched on several flashpoints in recent weeks from inside the company, including the announcement that it would move away from third-party fact-checkers to a community-notes system like that used by Elon Musk's X.

He told staff to wait and see how the new system would be implemented.

"I'm actually quite optimistic that this is going to end up being a better system," he said.

Zuckerberg also said this would be a year for "resetting" Meta's relationship with governments worldwide.

"After the last several years, we now have an opportunity to have a productive partnership with the United States government, and we're going to take that," Zuckerberg said. "I think it's the right thing to do because there are several areas, even if we don't agree on everything, where we have common cause for things that are going to make it so that we can serve our community better, and we can advance the interests of our country together, " he said, adding that Meta would do so in ways that didn't compromise its "principles or values."

Meta rolled back DEI programs

The Meta chief also addressed the company's recent changes in its stance on DEI policies and the rollback of those programs in response to a shifting legal and regulatory landscape under the Trump administration.

"The way to think about this is we're in the middle of a pretty rapidly changing policy and regulatory landscape that increasingly views any policy that might advantage any one group of people over another as something that is unlawful, and because of that, we need to adjust, or else we'll just be out of alignment with what the law is saying," Zuckerberg said.

He again said that Meta viewed diversity as a strength, adding: "Historically, we've had a handful of specific programs that were very focused on certain underrepresented groups, and I think the direction of the policy and regulatory and legal direction on a lot of the stuff is that you can't do things that advantage specific groups, even if you're trying to make up for other things."

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You can also reach them via Signal at jyotimann.11, hughlangley.01, and +1-408-905-9124.

• Google offers a voluntary exit package to US staff in the Platforms and Devices unit.
• The exit program follows last year's merger of Android and Chrome with device teams.
• Google aims to enhance focus and efficiency in building products post-restructuring.

Google has offered a voluntary exit package to employees in the unit responsible for Android software and Pixel phones, multiple employees familiar with the matter said.

The unit lead Rick Osterloh, a senior vice president at Google, sent a note Thursday to staff in its platforms and devices group offering an exit program for staff who wished to leave. The group also works on Chrome and wearable devices.

The voluntary exit program is specific to the platform and devices team in the US and is only open to platforms and devices Googlers reporting to Osterloh.

A Google spokesperson confirmed the voluntary exit program. 9to5Google earlier reported on the memo.

"The Platforms and Devices team is offering a voluntary exit program that provides US-based Googlers working on this team the ability to voluntarily leave the company with a severance package," the Google spokesperson said in a statement. "This comes after we brought two large organizations together last year. There's tremendous momentum on this team, and with so much important work ahead, we want everyone to be deeply committed to our mission and focused on building great products with speed and efficiency."

In April, Google merged its Android and Chrome group with the unit responsible for building devices such as Pixel phones and watches. Google leaders framed this change as a way to move faster and "to bring deep AI expertise across platforms and devices."

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• DeepSeek, a Chinese open-source AI firm, is taking over the discussion in tech circles.
• Tech stocks, especially Nvidia, plunged Monday.
• Companies leading the AI boom could be in for a reset as DeepSeek upends the status quo.

DeepSeek, a Chinese company with AI models that compete with OpenAI's at a fraction of the cost, is generating almost as many takes as tokens.

Across Silicon Valley, executives, investors, and employees debated the implications of such efficient models. Some called into question the trillions of dollars being spent on AI infrastructure since DeepSeek says its models were trained for a relative pittance.

"This is insane!!!!" Aravind Srinivas, CEO of startup Perplexity AI, wrote in response to a post on X noting that DeepSeek models are cheaper and better than some of OpenAI's latest offerings.

The takes on DeepSeek's implications are coming fast and hot. Here are eight of the most common.

Take 1: Generative AI adoption will explode

"Jevons paradox strikes again!" Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella posted on X Monday morning. "As AI gets more efficient and accessible, we will see its use skyrocket, turning it into a commodity we just can't get enough of."

The idea that as tech improves, whether smarter, cheaper, or both, it will only bring in exponentially more demand is based on a 19th-century economic principle. In this case, the barrier to entry for companies looking to dip their toe into AI has been high. Cheaper tools could encourage more experimentation and further the technology faster.

"Similar to Llama, it lowers the barriers to adoption, enabling more businesses to accelerate AI use cases and move them into production." Umesh Padval, managing director at Thomvest Ventures told Business Insider.

That said, even if AI grows faster than ever, that doesn't necessarily mean the trillions of investments that have flooded the space will pay off.

Take 2: DeepSeek broke the prevailing wisdom about the cost of AI

"DeepSeek seems to have broken the assumption that you need a lot of capital to train cutting-edge models," Debarghya Das, an investor at Menlo Ventures told BI.

The price of DeepSeek's open-source model is competitive — 20 to 40 times cheaper to use than comparable models from OpenAI, according to Bernstein analysts.

The exact cost of building DeepSeek models is hotly debated. The research paper from DeepSeek explaining its V3 model lists a training cost of $5.6 million — a harrowingly low number for other providers of foundation models.

However, the same paper says that the "aforementioned costs include only the official training of DeepSeek-V3, excluding the costs associated with prior research and ablation experiments on architectures, algorithms, or data." So the $5 million figure is only part of the equation.

The tech ecosystem is also reacting strongly to the implication that DeepSeek's state-of-the-art model architecture will be cheaper to run.

"This breakthrough slashes computational demands, enabling lower fees — and putting pressure on industry titans like Microsoft and Google to justify their premium pricing," Kenneth Lamont, principal at Morningstar, wrote in a note on Monday.

He went on to remind investors that with early-stage technology, assuming the winners are set is folly.

"Mega-trends rarely unfold as expected, and today's dominant players might not be tomorrow's winners," Lamont wrote.

Dmitry Shevelenko, the chief business officer at Perplexity, a big consumer of compute and existing models, concurred that Big Tech players would need to rethink their numbers.

"It certainly challenges the margin structure that maybe they were selling to investors," Shevelenko told BI. "But in terms of accelerating the development of these technologies, this is a good thing." Perplexity has added DeepSeek's models to its platform.

Take 3: Considering a switch to DeepSeek

On Monday, several platforms that provide AI models for businesses— Groq and Liquid.AI to name two — added DeepSeek's models to their offerings.

On Amazon's internal Slack, one person posted a meme suggesting that developers might drop Anthropic's Claude AI model in favor of DeepSeek's offerings. The post included an image of the Claude model crossed out.

"Friendship ended with Claude. Now DeepSeek is my best friend." the person wrote, according to a screenshot of the post seen by BI, which got more than 60 emoji reactions from colleagues.

Amazon has invested billions of dollars in Anthropic. The cloud giant also provides access to Claude models via its Amazon Web Service platform. And some AWS customers are asking for DeepSeek, BI has exclusively reported.

"We are always listening to customers to bring the latest emerging and popular models to AWS," an Amazon spokesperson said, while noting that customers can access some DeepSeek-related products on AWS right now through tools such as Bedrock.

"We expect to see many more models like this — both large and small, proprietary and open-source — excel at different tasks," the Amazon spokesperson added. "This is why the majority of Amazon Bedrock customers use multiple models to meet their unique needs and why we remain focused on providing our customers with choice — so they can easily experiment and integrate the best models for their specific needs into their applications."

Switching costs for companies creating their own products on top of foundation models are relatively low, which is generating a lot of questions as to whether DeepSeek will overtake other models from Meta, Anthropic, or OpenAI in popularity with enterprises. (It's already number one in Apple's app store.)

DeepSeek, however, is owned by Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer and the same security concerns haunting TikTok may eventually apply to DeepSeek.

"While open-source models like DeepSeek present exciting opportunities, enterprises—especially in regulated industries—may hesitate to adopt Chinese-origin models due to concerns about training data transparency, privacy, and security," Padval said.

Security concerns aside, the software companies that sell APIs to businesses have been adding DeepSeek throughout Monday.

Take 4: Infrastructure players could take a hit

Infrastructure-as-a-service companies, such as Oracle, Digital Ocean, and Microsoft could be in a precarious position should more efficient AI models rule in the future.

"The sheer efficiency of DeepSeek's pre and post training framework (if true) raises the question as to whether or not global hyperscalers and governments, that have and intend to continue to invest significant capex dollars into AI infrastructure, may pause to consider the innovative methodologies that have come to light with DeepSeek's research," wrote Stifel analysts.

If the same quantity of work requires less compute, those selling only compute could suffer, Barclays analysts wrote.

"With the increased uncertainty, we could see share price pressure amongst all three," according to the analysts.

Microsoft and Digital Ocean declined to comment. Oracle did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

Take 5: Scaling isn't dead, it's just moved

For months, AI luminaries, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang have been predicting a big shift in AI from a focus on training to a focus on inference. Training is the process by which models are created while inference is the type of computing that runs AI models and related tools such as ChatGPT.

The shift in computing's total share to inference has been underway for a while, but now, change is coming from two places. First, more AI users means more inference demand. The second is that part of DeepSeek's secret sauce is how improvement takes place in the inference stage. Nvidia took a positive spin, via a spokesperson.

"DeepSeek is an excellent AI advancement and a perfect example of Test Time Scaling. DeepSeek's work illustrates how new models can be created using that technique, leveraging widely-available models and compute that is fully export control compliant," an Nvidia spokesperson told BI.

"Inference requires significant numbers of NVIDIA GPUs and high-performance networking. We now have three scaling laws: pre-training and post-training, which continue, and new test-time scaling."

Take 6: Open-source changes model building

The most under-hyped part of DeepSeek's innovations is how easy it will now be to take any AI model and turn it into a more powerful "reasoning" model, according to Jack Clark, an Anthropic cofounder, and a former OpenAI employee, wrote about DeepSeek in his newsletter Import AI on Monday.

Clark also explained that some AI companies, such as OpenAI, have been hiding all the reasoning steps that their latest AI models take. DeepSeek's models show all these intermediate "chains of thought" for anyone to see and use. This radically changes how AI models are controlled, Clark wrote.

"Some providers like OpenAI had previously chosen to obscure the chains of thought of their models, making this harder," Clark explained. "There's now an open-weight model floating around the internet which you can use to bootstrap any other sufficiently powerful base model into being an AI reasoner. AI capabilities worldwide just took a one-way ratchet forward."

Take 7: Programmers still matter

DeepSeek improved by using novel programming methods, which Samir Kumar, co-founder and general partner at VC firm Touring Capital, saw as a reminder that humans are still coding the most exciting innovations in AI.

He told BI that DeepSeek is "a good reminder of the talent and skillset of hardcore human low-level programmers."

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You can email Jyoti at [email protected] or DM her via X @jyoti_mann1

• BI journalists share their biggest takeaways and most memorable moments from Davos.
• The gathering of the rich and powerful was dominated by conversations about AI.
• The scale of AI offering was giving people 'FOBO' — fear of becoming obsolete.

Big names like Donald Trump and David Beckham appeared at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, but the topic that kept coming up in conversations was AI.

These are Business Insider journalists' biggest takeaways and most memorable moments from the gathering of the rich and powerful.

Is AI a basic human right?

This year I scored an invitation to the Salesforce lunch, where CEO Marc Benioff was on a panel alongside Sara Eisen of CNBC, Kristalina Georgieva of the IMF, Al Gore, will.i.am, and Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio.

Benioff asked, "Is AI a basic human right?"

This question and the venue in which he asked it — a fancy lunch at Davos with Salesforce clients and global luminaries — epitomized the polarized and multilayered debates about this technology. Some see it as a powerful universal good — maybe even a basic human right. Others see it as a threat to humanity on multiple levels. Maybe it's a bit of both. Whatever it is, it's coming.

Some companies are going to capitalize on it, some will try and fail. Salesforce is one company that is already making it happen in practice with its "agentforce" technology.

What struck me at Davos that I didn't fully understand before is that the tech world sees AI "agents" as full-time workers who will work side by side with people, not just tools to help people. Benioff said this current generation of CEOs will be the last to manage "exclusively human workforces."

With AI agents, he said, institutions will need to figure out how humans and AI "create success together." More on this here from my colleagues Hugh Langley and Spriha Srivastava. — Jamie Heller

FOBO

All of this might have you feeling a term bobbing around the conference, FOBO — fear of becoming obsolete. To be sure, there is always sand in the wheels that slows these trends down. Some people with whom I spoke said they felt paralyzed by choice, with so many vendors pitching their AI wares.

And these services are costly — sellers need to persuade buyers the benefits are worth it. But one way or another, change is coming. And we'll do our best at BI to keep you informed on what can help you. — Jamie Heller

Employees will have to skill up fast to keep up with AI

Tech companies dominated Davos' promenade this week, showcasing their AI innovations. Non-tech companies shared examples of how they are integrating AI into their daily operations to boost productivity and efficiency.

However, a significant gap remains between the speed at which is AI developing and the speed at which employees are upskilling to take advantage of it. Bridging this gap comes down to two key factors: companies doubling down on upskilling initiatives and employees proactively taking the lead in staying relevant.

Talent transformation is a top priority. Several CEOs I spoke with outlined their strategies for fostering continuous learning and career advancement to ensure their workforce is prepared.

Rafee Tarafdar, chief technology officer of Infosys, the Indian tech giant, highlighted the success of the company's in-house learning platform. He described how the company launched a learning platform a few years ago and that, on average, their employees now spend 30 minutes a day learning on it.

Many companies are reinforcing this commitment by incorporating learning and upskilling into employee performance goals. But ultimately, motivation and curiosity play a decisive role, Ravin Jesuthasan, global leader for transformation services at Mercer, told me."I think every one of us has to really force ourselves to be curious because you're not going to learn unless you're curious about something," he said.

Jesuthasan emphasized that companies can provide resources, but it is up to individuals to want to learn. "I think that curiosity and learning agility are probably the two baseline requirements," he said. — Spriha Srivastava

If AI's tipping point is here, when and where can we expect serious job cuts?

With all the talk about AI, the natural next question is whether serious job cuts are next.

Indeed CEO Chris Hyams told me about a big report they conducted to understand the impact of AI on the labor market. Looking at 50 million-plus jobs, they found 2,800 distinct skills. Every skill was assessed on whether generative AI could perform it, and to what degree. (Doing math, good. Drawing a syringe, not so much.)

They then developed a score based on the number of skills a job had that were replaceable by generative AI. The good news? There are currently zero jobs where the tech can do 100% of the required skills.

Some caveats. That doesn't mean those jobs won't face a head count reduction due to the number of skills generative AI can do. As the tech continues to develop, there's no guarantee it won't eventually have all the required skills.

So what's the closest to being overtaken, and what's somewhat immune?

Finance, software development, and radiology are all professions whose skillset generative AI can mostly do, Hyams said. On the other end of the spectrum are jobs like childcare and drivers.

"What this says to us when you look at this heat map, these are all aspects of those jobs that are likely to change pretty rapidly in the next one to three years," Hyams said. — Dan DeFrancesco

Companies are expecting a return on their AI investment this year

There is a real belief that we'll start to see ROI on those AI investments this year. It's not 100% clear how that'll come to fruition, but AI agents will likely play a key role, and businesses are starting to think about how to build commercial models around them.

Uncertainty around Trump's new administration remains a business risk, but there's optimism tariffs won't be so strong they'll stop businesses in their tracks.

And excitement around the return of the M&A and the IPO market is palpable, as exit opportunities will allow the wider business lifecycle to get moving again. — Dan DeFrancesco

What it really takes to help people find and thrive in work

On one panel I moderated about the global jobs gap, the organizers told me the president of Singapore would speak first, for about five minutes. The president, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, ended up speaking for more than 15 minutes — and it was riveting. (You can watch here.)

In a soft-spoken tone, reminding me of a grandfather calmly dispensing wisdom, President Tharman urged the audience to think broadly about how to solve the mounting problems of global un- and under-employment. It's not just about wages and job creation, he said. It's about how we raise children (the first three years, he said, are critical). It's about how we educate people (countries with strong public school systems where a wide swath of people can participate and benefit do better, he said).

In higher education, it's about giving people relevant skills that can serve them and not leave them feeling dispirited that their investment in education (perhaps their family's or the state's) didn't pay off.

He argued that liberal arts education is not a match for many people for jobs and that the so-called soft skills that such education provides can also be gained in more technical training. "Soft skills are not the sole providence of traditional academic education," he said.

He said that in the years to come, many people will work their lives in the "informal" sector of employment rather than full-time jobs with benefits, and it's imperative that people in those jobs also have ways to develop skills and enjoy basic protections.

Clearly — I think it's worth listening for yourself. As the workplace continues to evolve, we intend to be your place to help you navigate it. — Jamie Heller

Is 'learn to code' still good job advice?

If 2025 is the year that AI truly enters the workplace, what does it mean for the future of jobs? For me, two key takeaways emerged this week: employees and employers will soon have to grapple with how they manage AI in their businesses, and AI has the potential to affect the labor market in a way we've not seen before.

"As far as I know, we have never in history displaced jobs of people who were today considered the most well-paid," said Eiso Kant, CTO of Poolside, a company that is building AI coding assistants for software engineers. The technological-societal shift with AI could be such that some of the highest-paid jobs could be most at risk, said Kant, as "taking intelligence and embodying it in the real world is taking a lot slower than everything that happens behind a screen."

It wasn't long ago that learning to code seemed like a surefire way to secure your economic future. Does that wisdom still hold up if everyone is able to build software and high-paid software engineers are suddenly at risk of being replaced? Kant said we're not there yet, but he was also frank about what he saw coming: "If at some point the superpower is more capable than you in building software, you have to start asking the question, what does it mean for your job?" — Hugh Langley

A better way to Davos?

For most Davos-goers, The Promenade is where the action happens. Not for Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince this year, who told us he spent the first three days of this year's Davos barreling down the nearby ski slopes with clients and some members of the US ski team.

And he's confident that swapping the meeting room for the ski lift will pay off. "We'll do more business this year than ever before," he told BI. Maybe that's a good tip for the rest of us for 2026? — Hugh Langley

• Talk of AI agents is everywhere in Davos. AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio warned against them.
• Bengio said that agents with the power of AGI could lead to "catastrophic scenarios."
• Bengio is researching how to build non-agentic systems to keep the agents in check.

Artificial intelligence pioneer Yoshua Bengio has been at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week with a message: AI agents could end badly.

The topic of AI agents — artificial intelligence that can act independently of human input — has been one of the buzziest at this year's gathering in snowy Switzerland. The event has drawn a collection of pioneering AI researchers to debate where AI goes next, how it should be governed, and when we may see signs of machines that can reason as well as humans — a milestone known as artificial general intelligence (AGI).

"All of the catastrophic scenarios with AGI or superintelligence happen if we have agents," Bengio told BI in an interview. He said he believes it's possible to achieve AGI without building agentic systems.

"All of the AI for science and medicine, all the things people care about, is not agentic," Bengio said. "And we can continue building more powerful systems that are non-agentic."

Bengio, a Canadian research scientist whose early research in deep learning and neural networks laid the foundation for the modern AI boom, is considered one of the "AI godfathers" alongside Geoffrey Hinton and Yann LeCun. Like Hinton, Bengio has warned against the potential harms of AI and called for collective action to mitigate the risks.

After two years of testing AI, businesses recognize the tangible return on investment offered by AI agents, which could enter the workforce meaningfully as soon as this year. OpenAI, which doesn't have a presence at this year's Davos, this week revealed an AI agent that can surf the web for you and perform tasks such as booking restaurants or adding groceries to your basket. Google has previewed a similar tool of its own.

The problem Bengio sees is that people will keep building agents no matter what, especially as competing companies and countries worry that others will get to agentic AI before them.

"The good news is that if we build non-agentic systems, they can be used to control agentic systems," he told BI.

One way would be to build more sophisticated "monitors" that can do that, although this would require significant investment, said Bengio.

He also called for national regulation that would prevent AI companies from building agentic models without first proving that the system would be safe.

"We could advance our science of safe and capable AI, but we need to acknowledge the risks, understand scientifically where it's coming from, and then do the technological investment to make it happen before it's too late, and we build things that can destroy us," Bengio said.

'I want to raise a red flag'

Before speaking with BI, Bengio spoke on a panel about AI safety with Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis.

"I want to raise a red flag. This is the most dangerous path," Bengio told the audience when asked about AI agents. He pointed to ways AI can be used for scientific discovery, such as DeepMind's breakthrough in protein folding, as examples of how it can still be profound without being agentic. Bengio said he believes it's possible to get to AGI without giving AI agency.

"It's a bet, I agree," he said, "but I think it's a worthwhile bet."

Hassabis agreed with Bengio that measures should be taken to mitigate risks, such as cybersecurity protections or experimenting with agents in simulations before releasing them. This would only work if everyone agreed to build them the same way, he added.

"Unfortunately I do think there's an economic gradient, beyond science and workers, that people want for their systems to be agentic," Hassabis said. "When you say 'recommend me a restaurant,' why would you not want the next step, which is, book the table."

• Thursday was the last full day of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
• At panels and parties, the rich and powerful were discussing what's next for the economy, tech, and business.
• Delegates packed the 700-seater hall to hear Donald Trump's virtual address.

Thursday is the last full day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where the rich and powerful have been discussing the year ahead in economics, business, and tech.

This is what happened.

A softer start to day 4

You can tell the parties in Davos have been running late when the security lines at the Congress Center are shorter. That was the scene on the morning of day four.

Last night, the Business Insider crew was out mingling with the rich and powerful, trying to gauge their biggest takeaways from the week.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told me he loves coming to Davos—not just for the events but also for the sheer number of connections he's able to make. Connections were certainly the theme of the night.

From Uber, we made our way to one of the most sought-after gatherings: J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon's annual drinks reception. Hosted at the iconic Kirchner Museum, this event is a Davos staple, bringing together the biggest names in business and politics. It's not just about the cocktails — it's a chance to meet Dimon, his top leadership, and an exclusive circle of global power players.

And yes, we managed to sneak in a photo with Dimon himself, alongside Mary Callahan Erdoes, CEO of J.P. Morgan Asset Management, and none other than former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Just another night in Davos. — Spriha Srivastava

Trump's virtual address had people laughing and sitting in complete silence

 President Donald Trump's virtual address on Thursday afternoon drew a huge crowd.

The 700-seater hall was full and an audience of CEOs and leaders listened to the new president, who attacked EU regulation while indulging in rhetoric reminiscent of the campaign trail. One delegate told me she'd walked out after his remark about "transgender surgeries". I wrote here about the strange atmosphere. — Spriha Srivastava

Who will manage your AI colleagues?

The AI agents are coming, but who will manage them? It's a very real concern among some business leaders I've met with.

HR software maker Lattice got some backlash last year when it announced it would start giving AI workers official employment records. The idea might not seem so ridiculous now as business leaders think about how to govern a new class of AI capable of carrying out certain tasks without human input. "We were ahead, but by months," Lattice CEO Sarah Franklin told BI at Davos.

ManpowerGroup chief commercial officer Becky Frankiewicz also told BI she'd been hearing from business leaders who are thinking about ways to govern AI agents. Tech companies will likely be the first to jump in, she said, but she already knows of one consulting firm grappling with this challenge of the new AI era. "They've done the agents already," she said. "The next question they were asking was: do we need to have managers for the agents?" — Hugh Langley

The WTO's director-general had a stark warning about tariffs

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the World Trade Organization, said in a session that she feared President Trump's tariffs could trigger retaliation and "catastrophic" damage to the global economy.

"We should not hyperventilate, we should take a deep breath," the former finance minister of Nigeria said, noting the US may still not follow through on its tariff threats.

Okonjo-Iweala, a Harvard and MIT-trained economist, said she wanted to avoid "a self-fulfilling prophecy" where talk of a tariff war causes politicians to wage one. She warned retaliation to Trump's tariffs could cause "catastrophic" double-digit global GDP losses and "everyone will pay."

Even if the world splits up into two trading blocs and there's wider uncertainty about trade policies, she said, an estimated 6.4% of real global GDP or $6.75 trillion could be lost in the longer term. That would be equivalent to "losing the economy of Japan and Korea combined," Okonjo-Iweala said. "That's far from trivial." — Theron Mohamed

A DEI advocate says it can survive — if it focuses on the business case

The new US administration's attitudes toward DEI initiatives might not seem hopeful for those in the space, but Mary Ellen Iskenderian still sees opportunities.

As president and CEO of Women's World Banking, a global nonprofit, she's focused on helping low-income women in the developing world access financial tools and resources. She's also tentatively entering the US with a for-profit impact investment management fund.

Despite many businesses seeming to pull back on their DEI efforts — although that list doesn't include JPMorgan — Iskenderian told me she's not deterred. The key is positioning any changes as focused on improving the business.

She told me that, after Davos, she's headed to Zurich to make a business pitch with a large European bank about DEI efforts within its wealth business.

The issue? Across the board, 60% of private banks' female clients will leave their bank when their husband dies because the relationship manager hasn't been talking to them.

It's solving those types of business-focused issues that Iskenderian believes will be key.

"I'm cautiously optimistic that if it stays within the business case, it's still going to be something," she told me. — Dan DeFrancesco

Uber wants to 'out Amazon' Amazon

"Never underestimate the power of human laziness," Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told a small gathering on Wednesday in a Q&A. He was talking about Uber's plans for growing its same-day delivery network with merchants spanning from Apple to Walmart. "Ultimately what we want to do is empower every single local merchant to out-Amazon Amazon," he said.

Khosrowshahi traveled to Switzerland after attending festivities in DC for Donald Trump's inauguration, where he described seeing a reinvigorated sense of optimism among business leaders.

"You see it, whether you agree with the executive orders or not, there's a sense that there's a window, there's a permission to move quickly," he said. — Hugh Langley

March will be the month for tech IPOs

April's showers bring May flowers, but March will be the month for IPOs.

That's the expected timeline for tech companies to finally start going public again after a long drought in the space, according to bankers I've spoken with here.

Specifically, keep an eye on companies backed by private equity. One banker told me that private equity is feeling pressure to show a path to liquidity, and those assets are often too big to sell to another firm. There's also a desire to free up capital during what's becoming an exciting time to put money back to work.

Another banker made similar comments about the public window starting to open. They also pointed to the growing appetite among active managers to tap into IPOs to gain some alpha, given the strength of passive investing, as another sign of momentum.

But don't expect an absolute free-for-all. It won't be a return to the hysteria of 2021. Instead, expect a normal year similar to what we saw pre-pandemic, the banker added. — Dan DeFrancesco

Will AI widen the gender gap?

The conversations around AI have been overwhelming, especially with the rise of agentic AI and the talent transformation needed to keep up. But there's a growing concern that these advancements could deepen the gender gap, particularly in low-income countries.

Smriti Irani, a former Indian cabinet minister and the founder of the Alliance for Global Good, Gender Equality, and Equity, shared her concerns with me. She said, "One big risk with generative AI is that it relies heavily on scraping the internet to train its algorithms. But how much of that content actually represents women's issues?"

She also highlighted a crucial challenge for women in low-income countries: "The penetration of the internet is still a challenge. What happens to women and their businesses or their livelihoods in those countries, especially if most economies start pushing for automation?" Irani also emphasized that 70% of jobs held by women globally are vulnerable to automation.

"You have an opportunity coming, but you will also be overwhelmed by the fact that you have a subset of women who are potentially humanly trained to do jobs. They will reach a particular maturity in terms of their interface with their own organizations, and suddenly we have new technology coming that can use AI for workflow in the workplace. What happens to that female potential?"

As AI reshapes the workforce, the question remains: Will it help close the gender gap, or will it leave women further behind? — Spriha Srivastava

Davos is already prepping for 2026

The conference doesn't technically wrap until midday Friday, but things are already winding down. Some people leave Thursday, while a good chunk of the delegates head out early Friday.

But an end is just a new beginning, and that's the case for Davos … 2026.

Planning for next year's event has already begun. Plenty of companies will lock down their spaces along the Promenade — the main street that runs through town where retail shops are transformed into a "haus" for the business renting it — by the end of the week if they haven't already done so. When I arrived on Sunday afternoon, I saw one shop with a large display advertising itself as a potential 2026 home base.

Reservations at restaurants for big dinners also start filling up fast, although one person involved in event planning told me some establishments opt to wait a bit in hopes they can just rent out the entire space in one go.

The entire week is a boon for local businesses and homeowners, who make many multiples above what they see selling things or renting out their space any other week of the year.

Of course, some shops choose to stay open, like the town's luxury watch shop. (Its Rolex signage fits in quite well with the vibes, to be honest.)

And then there's the one souvenir shop in the middle of town, which might secretly do the best business. A simple cotton T-shirt with some Davos branding can run you close to $40. — Dan DeFrancesco

• Agentic AI, which makes decisions without human input, is a hot topic at Davos this year.
• AI agents promise tangible benefits to companies but raise questions such as whether they should get KPIs.
• Business leaders now have to work out how to manage autonomous bots alongside human employees.

Many companies are using AI to get better, faster, and leaner — but what happens when artificial intelligence is not just your tool but your colleague or your employee? Should it be trained like a human, given goals and performance metrics?

There's a reality setting in at the World Economic Forum in Davos this year: business leaders will soon have to decide how to manage not only their human workforce but also a new class of AI employees while maintaining harmony between bots and people.

It's something Lattice CEO Sarah Franklin has spent a lot of time thinking about. Her company, which builds HR software, announced last year that it was going to treat AI workers like humans by giving them official employee records and even putting them through onboarding like a real human employee. The actual humans weren't keen on the idea and Lattice hit pause after the backlash.

Now, with talk of AI agents everywhere, Franklin says Lattice's idea was "really prescient" if too early. "We were ahead, but by months."

That may prove to be so. Agentic AI is a hot topic at Davos this year. The past two years have brought much hype around artificial intelligence, but agents — AI that can act and make decisions independent of user input — are what many stakeholders believe can provide tangible, immediate benefits. Or, as one exec in Davos put it, the time for kicking the tires is over. Businesses want returns on their investments — and agents are one way to get it.

Franklin is not the only one raising the flag on this topic. "I don't think the world has yet had the opportunity to think through all of the implications," Alan Flower, global head of AI at HCLTech, told Business Insider.

"For example, as a manager, I'm going to be managing a human workforce and an agentic workforce at the same time — they're going to have to collaborate," said Flower. "My agents are going to have to collaborate with agents from another company, for example."

The question then, said Flower, is how do employers "broker" collaboration between agents — including from other companies —and motivate them to do good work?

"Will we get to a phase where agentic AI will be given KPIs? These are all considerations that the world of work is going to have to kind of contemplate," Flower added, referring to key performance indicators.

'How do I manage them?'

Franklin says one of the mistakes Lattice made with its announcement last year was in how it communicated it. "People are more comfortable with the word 'agent' than they are with 'digital worker,'" she said. Franklin added, "There's a huge lack of education of what AI is and a disbelief that AI is going to be able to have the types of conversations that it can."

That's a huge opportunity for HR leaders, Franklin said. And, of course, for Lattice, which counts OpenAI, Perplexity, and Anthropic among its customers.

Becky Frankiewicz, chief commercial officer at ManpowerGroup, told BI she has been hearing a lot of talk about whether companies will need "AI managers" for their AI agents.

"I think the first step in working out how to manage these AI employees is, how do I deploy them and make them productive? And then step two is, how do I manage them?"

Frankiewicz said she knew one consulting company already grappling with this. "They've done the agents already," she said. "The next question they were asking was: do we need to have managers for the agents?"

Lattice's Franklin thinks the discussion around AI in the workplace isn't being taken seriously enough — and needs to happen soon.

"The reality is that today, AI is being implemented as agents to have conversations on behalf of brands, on behalf of people," Franklin said, adding that it's a huge amount of trust to put into AI without proper governance. As agents take on more responsibilities, more governance will be needed — but that means acknowledging the new reality and having those conversations.

"We need everyone to get to this place where they're comfortable, they're not afraid," she said. "And we can work together with AI in the workforce in a way that feels natural."

• The rich and powerful are in Davos, Switzerland, for day three of the World Economic Forum.
• BI is talking to people on topics from AI infrastructure to the economy under Trump.
• This is what we're hearing on the ground.

The World Economic Forum has brought the rich and powerful together to discuss topics ranging from Donald Trump's impact on the economy to AI's impact on their industries.

This is what Business Insider is hearing and seeing on the ground.

Trump is the main character here

It seems a conversation at Davos can't go three minutes without Trump's name coming up. In an interview at Bloomberg House on Tuesday, Google's chief investment officer Ruth Porat said she saw a "tremendous opportunity" to work with Trump 2.0.

"I think the president and his team have been clear that they see technology as an asset for the country," she said. — Hugh Langley

It feels like Europe is missing in action

The need for Europe to step up has been the recurring theme in my conversations with business and government leaders. Geopolitical and economic uncertainty is at the forefront of everyone's mind.

While business leaders are excited about the new US president and Asia boasts some of the world's fastest-growing economies, Europe seems to be missing from the action. Walking along the promenade in Davos, the presence of American, Asian, and Middle Eastern delegations is unmistakable. But where is Europe? And where is the UK?

One CEO I spoke with Tuesday night stressed that Europe's regulatory landscape had to change to make it easier for businesses to operate there. "What Asia is gaining, Europe is losing," he said.

Another executive observed that Europe was a major topic of discussion in Davos, but its presence feels muted. Srini Pallia, the global CEO of Wipro, said that growth and regulatory challenges in Europe are key concerns this year. "I was in a session just before this, where the European president was present, and she was asked how the EU could reduce regulatory barriers that are hindering growth. I think that's one of the big conversations happening here." — Spriha Srivastava

AI infrastructure is getting a boost — but what if it's too big a boost?

If you're still doubting AI's future impacts and benefits, there are now 500 billion reasons to put that to rest.

Anne Hoecker, the global head of Bain & Company's tech practice, told me that Tuesday's announcement of up to $500 billion of private investment in AI infrastructure shows "how much people believe in the promise of AI."

"This is real. We are really going to have great ROI," she said.

One thing to watch is the balance between supply and demand. While the project aims to meet the rising need for infrastructure, it's a balance. As bad as a shortage is, the opposite isn't ideal either.

"You can argue both sides of that. The use cases are picking up. People will start to see ROIs and will use up all the data center capacity as we build it," Hoecker said.

She said that if people didn't see the ROI they were expecting, the question would be, "Do we have excess capacity built up, and then we grow into it just like any technology innovation cycle?"

Waiting for the industry's needs to catch up to the existing supply isn't straightforward. Beyond the cost of having infrastructure you're not using, there's also the risk of the tech being outdated.

"Each generation of chips is going to be more powerful, more energy-efficient. So, if you have too much capacity in an older generation, does that hamper your ability to move to the next generation? How do you use up that old generation's capacity? So ideally you're not building too much in front of demand," Hoecker added. — Dan DeFrancesco

Leaning into the 'experience economy'

One of the big conversations this year is how countries can navigate an evolving global economy. With growing protectionist policies and shifting trade dynamics, how can economies build resilience and drive sustainable growth?

One idea on the table — leaning into the experience economy.

I moderated a panel Wednesday, "Mass Events, Massive Gains," about how major events like Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, the FIFA World Cup, and the Olympics can bring investment, job creation, and long-term urban development.

The panel featured leaders from diverse industries, including H.H. Sheikha Latifa Bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairperson of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority; Sir Martin Sorrell, Executive Chairman of S4Capital plc; Patrice Louvet, CEO of Ralph Lauren Corporation; and Anna Marks, Global Chair of Deloitte.

The experience economy is more than just entertainment. It has become a major force in economic transformation, boosting industries like retail, sports, hospitality, and tourism.

But while these events generate billions in revenue, hosting them is no small feat. They can require close collaboration between governments, businesses, and local communities — from infrastructure investments to security and sustainability concerns.

Yet, the true power of these events goes beyond economics. At a time when loneliness is on the rise and digital interactions dominate, mass gatherings remind us of the value of in-person connections.

As global economies look for new growth strategies, is the experience economy the key to driving resilient, inclusive, and long-term economic success? I will aim to find out next year at Davos. — Spriha Srivastava

Meta is trying to reassure advertisers about its moderation changes

Mark Zuckerberg's Meta makeover has had some advertisers concerned about how its changes to content moderation would affect what people start to see across Facebook and Instagram.

In a Davos roundtable discussion with BI, Nicola Mendelsohn, the head of Meta's global business group, said the company had been speaking with advertisers in recent days and trying to reassure them that nothing will change. Mendelsohn said advertisers would still be able to stop ads appearing next to political content if they wish.

"What they've shared back actually is the reassurance that all the commitments that we have to brand safety, brand suitability on the platform, none of that changes," she said. — Hugh Langley

We need a new institution to ensure humanlike AI doesn't harm humanity, Google DeepMind's CEO said

Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis had a busy Tuesday here with two nearly back-to-back interviews at Google Haus. If there was one big takeaway, it was Hassabis' contention that we're not thinking enough about the AI bigger picture. "I think there's way too much hype in the short term," he said. "Actually it's underrated still, underappreciated, the amount of transformation that's going to happen in the medium to long term, so the five to 10 years."

In response to a question from BI, Hassabis said he believed there were big questions around capitalism and society that need to be pondered. "One of the big things economists should be thinking about is what does that do to money, the capitalist system, even the notion of companies. I think all of that changes."

Hassbis said we need an institution that can "meet the moment" — a governing body that can ensure artificial general intelligence, or AGI, is managed in a way that benefits humankind.

"That would be where you put a wise council, an international council of very diverse and smart people from different backgrounds. Not just technologists. I'm talking about philosophers, social scientists, writers, et cetera. But who is building that institute, is what I would ask. And I think we really need that."

He also discussed his work with AlphaFold on protein folding, which recently earned him a Nobel Prize. And who better to discuss the science than Bill Nye, "the science guy," who took the mic for the second interview. — Hugh Langley

Consulting firms are ready for a big year

Consulting firms are ready for what is expected to be a big year for their business thanks to a flurry of potential changes on the horizon.

"There are several macro factors that have been in play for a while: AI certainly, but also strong economic indicators in the US, as well as the current pro-growth sentiment in the market as a result of the incoming administration. So, there might be an uptick in business activity," Sharon Marcil, BCG's North America chair and a managing director and senior partner, told me.

A massive ramp-up comes with issues, though, as was evident in 2021 when the surge in M&A activity led to employee burnout across financial services.

A complete repeat of 2021's record year seems unlikely, but there are still staffing considerations. It's a tricky balance. You need enough workers so resources aren't stretched too thin while avoiding a surplus where there is not enough work to go around.

An immediate fix also isn't easy, as bringing on new talent requires a necessary training period. And good luck telling clients to hold off on deals, especially after so many have been sitting on the sidelines waiting for the market to open up.

"For us, periods of increased activity force us to predict staffing. And that can sometimes be hard. There is a sweet spot between being understaffed and overstaffed. If we find we haven't gone far enough, we try other approaches like off-cycle hiring. It's definitely a balancing act," Marcil said. — Dan DeFrancesco

Proper snow boots are the way to go here

We're three days in, and we've yet to touch one of the most interesting debates I've found at Davos: footwear. Being that we're in the mountains, the abundance of snow and ice means opting for typical business shoes or heels isn't necessarily your best bet.

Boots of varying degrees of heftiness and fashionability are a popular choice. (They don't call it "suits and boots" for nothing.) Others wear spikes that can be taken on and off.

Personally, I've gone all in, opting for proper snow boots. Wearing them with my suit every day is a bit … jarring. However, my daughter thinks I look like Kristoff from "Frozen," so that's a win.

Of course, some people throw caution to the wind and still opt for their dress shoes. Davos is a lot about status, and the luxury of wearing normal shoes since you're being chauffeured around speaks to that. — Dan DeFrancesco

• Meta executives met with advertisers in recent days to reassure them following some company changes.
• Meta has cut third-party fact-checkers and replaced them with community notes.
• It said it would let users see political content and lift restrictions on certain discussion topics.

A Meta executive says the company has recently met with advertisers to reassure them that the changes it has made regarding free speech won't lead to harmful content running rampant on its platforms.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Nicola Mendelsohn, head of Meta's global business group, said the company had been in contact with advertisers after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Meta would stop using third-party fact-checkers on its platforms and instead rely on user-made community notes. He also announced that users would again have the option to see political content on their feeds.

"From an advertiser perspective, we've obviously been talking to them over the last week," said Mendelsohn in a roundtable discussion with Business Insider. "What they've shared back actually is the reassurance that all the commitments that we have to brand safety, brand suitability on the platform, none of that changes."

Zuckerberg posted a video earlier this month announcing some of the changes around content moderation. He blamed the existing systems for causing "too much censorship" and said it was time for Meta to return to its "roots around free expression."

The company has also removed some restrictions on certain topics, such as gender and immigration, allowing users to post what could previously have been determined to be hate speech.

The changes sparked concerns among advertisers, BI previously reported. Mendelsohn said advertisers will still have control over where their ads are placed.

"So, for example, if you have an advertiser that doesn't want to be next to societal issues, political issues, their ads won't appear next to it," Mendelsohn said.

Mendelsohn said the advertisers Meta had been speaking to wanted to understand more about what was happening.

"They wanted to get past the headlines," she said, adding that it is "all still very early days" in the new era of Meta.

The changes around content moderation were among other broader changes at Meta, which included rolling back its DEI programs and a push to cut low performers faster. The company has ushered in these changes amid President Donald Trump taking power.

"From a US perspective it is a different political and societal change that we're seeing there," Mendelsohn said. "But from a company perspective, I don't feel or see anything different."

Got more insight to share? You can reach the reporter Hugh Langley via the encrypted messaging app Signal (+1-628-228-1836) or email ([email protected]).

• Google's investment chief said there's a "tremendous" opportunity in working with Donald Trump.
• Ruth Porat, formerly Google's CFO, was speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
• Her remarks come a day after Google CEO Sundar Pichai was seated onstage at Trump's inauguration.

President Donald Trump is back, and Google's chief investment officer says the tech giant is ready to work with the returning administration.

"I think the president and his team have been clear that they see technology as an asset for the country," said Ruth Porat, speaking Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos. "They see the economic upside that comes with executing the right way. They want to clear away some of the impediments to investing."

Porat, who served as Google's CFO for nearly a decade before shifting into a new role as its president and chief investment officer in 2024, added that she expects the administration to act quickly on issues like permitting that are key to powering investment and growth.

"I think that there's a tremendous amount of opportunity to keep working with him as we did in Trump 1.0," she said.

Porat's remarks come a day after her boss, CEO Sundar Pichai, was seated on the dais at the US Capitol for Trump's inauguration — a row behind Trump's family members and ahead of several of his cabinet nominees.

As Trump begins his second term, Google is also embroiled in multiple antitrust lawsuits with the US Justice Department related to its search and advertising businesses.

Prosecutors under the Biden administration asked a federal judge to force Google to sell off its Chrome business following a ruling in August that said the company illegally acted as a monopoly in its search business.

In October, responding to a question about a potential breakup, Trump said that Google has "a lot of power" and that he would "do something" about it.

"How they became a power is, you know, really the discussion," he said. "At the same time, it's a very dangerous thing because want to have great companies — we don't want China to have these companies. Right now, China is afraid of Google."

Since then, Google's CEO Pichai has met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Trump called Pichai "a great guy" during a podcast interview with Joe Rogan, saying they had also spoken on the phone.

Earlier this month, Google more than tripled its 2017 donation to Trump's inauguration fund with a million-dollar donation, joining other tech giants in making seven-figure gifts.

In Davos, Porat said that "nothing is easy."

"It requires each of us to constructively engage — as I expect they will — as we most certainly want to make sure things get landed in the most productive way," she said.