Meta chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth told an employee at townhall: It is very dumb to keep asking for…

Meta's chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth told employees at a July town hall that requests to restore the pandemic-era perk "Meta Days" were misplaced, saying it was "very dumb" to keep asking for the benefit as the company redirects productivity gains from AI back into product work. The exchange comes as Meta trims staff and pours capital into AI infrastructure — the company cut about 8,000 jobs in May from a roughly 78,000-person workforce and has committed upwards of $125 billion to AI infrastructure this year.

"Stop asking about Meta Days. It's very dumb," Bosworth said, per attendees on the call.

The question that prompted Bosworth's response was whether time saved by AI-driven productivity could translate into more time off — specifically reinstating Meta Days, which added an extra day off to four long holiday weekends before being scrapped in 2022. Bosworth shut down the request and explained his view that hours saved should be reinvested into building products for the billions who use Meta's apps. He told the room he "gets an extra hour" himself and puts that hour back into product work, and suggested employees ask their parents what they would make of repeatedly asking management for more days off.

Bosworth later apologised for coming down "too hard," and acknowledged the question may have been tongue-in-cheek, but his stance remained firm: AI-driven productivity gains should bolster product output rather than expand the calendar. The position echoes comments from industry figures such as Sam Altman, who has argued that AI will not necessarily shorten the work week because people may simply take on additional tasks.

• Meta Days: scrapped during a 2022 hiring freeze; replaced by two discretionary "choice days".
• Workforce and spending: about 8,000 jobs cut in May from a ~78,000 workforce; >$125 billion committed to AI infrastructure this year.
• Employee surveillance dispute: the company began capturing employee keystrokes, clicks and screen content to train models; over 1,000 employees signed a petition opposing the practice.
• Opt-out: Bosworth said "there is no opt-out on a corporate laptop" when asked about opting out of tracking.
• Executive compensation: Bosworth stands to collect as much as $921 million from a stock option plan tied to Meta reaching a $9 trillion valuation by 2031.

The exchange is notable for its timing and backdrop. Meta has been publicly ramping AI investments while implementing cost cuts, a combination that has intensified scrutiny around how productivity gains are allocated and how employee data is used to train internal models. Reports that the company is capturing detailed employee activity to teach its systems have driven internal pushback, with the petition against the tracking effort reflecting rising concern.

For employees, the immediate outlook is unchanged: Meta continues to offer four weeks of paid time off plus public holidays, and the two "choice days" remain in lieu of the earlier Meta Days perk. For the company, management's message is clear — productivity improvements from AI are to be channelled into product development rather than expanded leave. Whether that stance will hold as AI begins to reshape roles and expectations across the tech sector remains an open question, particularly as conversations about employee surveillance, compensation incentives and workplace culture continue to surface.