AI gains mean more work, not more holidays: Meta CTO
What's the story
Meta's Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Andrew Bosworth, has said that the company will not use artificial intelligence (AI) productivity gains to give employees more time off. The statement was made during a recent town hall meeting where Bosworth was asked if AI-driven productivity improvements could lead to more vacation days for employees.
Productivity focus
Bosworth's vision for AI productivity gains
Responding to the question, Bosworth said he doesn't expect AI-driven productivity gains to result in more vacation days.
Instead, he hopes that the extra time would be used to do "even more and cooler stuff for the users who use our products every day."
He stressed how billions of people use Meta's products daily and that any extra hour should be put into improving those services.
Career advice
CTO's challenge to employees' career strategy
Bosworth also challenged the notion of using additional productivity as a way to get more time off.
He asked employees to consult their parents about this career strategy, implying that it may not be the best approach for professional growth.
The CTO later apologized for being too harsh on the employee who asked the question, saying he thought it was a light-hearted inquiry.
Leave policy
Meta's current leave policy and AI spending
Meta's current leave policy gives employees four working weeks of annual leave, excluding public holidays.
This comes after the company scrapped its 'Meta Days' program that gave two additional days off whenever employees wanted.
Despite the growing trend of tech companies encouraging their employees to use AI tools in their workflows, Meta has been cautious about its internal AI spending.
AI spending control
Token budgets and 'Claudeonomics' shutdown
To control internal AI spending, Meta has introduced token budgets for employees.
The company also recently shut down an internal leaderboard called 'Claudeonomics,' where employees competed over how many AI tokens they consumed.