ADVERTISEMENT BI Africa > news Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tells employees to 'buckle up' for an 'intense year' in a leaked all-hands recording 30 January 2025 09:03 PM 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. Credit: Anadolu/Getty, Irina Gutyryak/Getty, Tyler Le/BIMeta 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.ADVERTISEMENTRecommended articles 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. ADVERTISEMENT 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. ADVERTISEMENT 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. ADVERTISEMENT "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." ADVERTISEMENTDo you work at Meta? Contact BI reporters from a nonwork email and device at , , and . You can also reach them via Signal at jyotimann.11, hughlangley.01, and +1-408-905-9124.FOLLOW BUSINESS INSIDER AFRICAOur newsletter gives you access to a curated selection of the most important stories daily. Thanks for signing up for our daily insight on the African economy. We bring you daily editor picks from the best Business Insider news content so you can stay updated on the latest topics and conversations on the African market, leaders, careers and lifestyle. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected!Unblock notifications in browser settings.ADVERTISEMENT