Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s chief technology officer and head of Reality Labs, has summoned his division to what he’s described internally as the “most important” all‑hands of the year — and he’s asking people to show up in person.
The meeting is set for January 14, and according to employees who spoke with Business Insider, managers have been unusually forceful about attendance: some teams were reportedly told to “drop what they’re doing” to be there. That push for a physical gathering is notable inside Reality Labs, a unit that oversees Meta’s VR, AR, wearables and a nascent robotics effort and which has largely operated with the flexibility common at Silicon Valley firms.
Why the urgency?
Reality Labs has been a costly bet for Meta. Since 2020 the division has reportedly accumulated more than $70 billion in operating losses, and late‑2025 reporting suggested the company was weighing budget cuts of up to 30% and further job reductions. Those are heavy numbers on top of last year’s layoffs that cut thousands companywide and hit Reality Labs teams, including in‑house game studios and the acquired Supernatural fitness app.
At the same time, Meta’s corporate center of gravity has been moving toward artificial intelligence. Mark Zuckerberg’s company spent heavily on AI initiatives in 2025 — including a multibillion dollar investment in Scale AI and a high‑profile hiring push that pulled talent from groups such as OpenAI and DeepMind. That reorientation has left Reality Labs at a crossroads: hardware and immersive experiences remain central to Meta’s long‑term vision, but executives are under pressure to fold in AI in ways that make those products more commercially viable.
Reality Labs does have real product wins to point to: Ray‑Ban smart glasses and Quest headsets have shown consumer interest, even if the broader metaverse has yet to reach mass adoption. (Meta’s headset business and its ecosystem remain relevant; for hardware context see coverage of updates to the Ray‑Ban lineup in our previous piece on the product’s firmware and ecosystem.)(/news/meta-ray-ban-ecosystem-update) If you want to think about how headsets have moved beyond R&D into retail, the Meta Quest family is the clearest example of that shift.
What might be on the agenda?
No official agenda was released publicly, and Meta did not immediately comment. But sources and industry observers say the meeting is likely to cover a few connected themes:
- A frank assessment of Reality Labs’ financials and whether recent cuts and efficiency pushes are on track.
- How to integrate AI into AR/VR products so they become more defensible and useful — not just experiments. (The wider industry’s AI momentum — from conversational copilots to contextual assistants — is changing how companies plan product roadmaps; for a look at how AI is showing up in mapping and navigation, see our piece on Gemini’s integration with Google Maps.)(/news/google-maps-gemini-ai-copilot)
- Roadmaps for next‑gen hardware (think AR glasses prototypes like Orion) and decisions about third‑party partnerships versus first‑party control.
- Morale and retention: rebuilding confidence after rounds of layoffs and budget trimming.
Bosworth has previously framed critical years for Reality Labs in stark terms. In an internal memo last year he called 2025 “the most critical” year of his tenure, saying it would determine whether the effort became visionary or a “legendary misadventure.” That kind of language suggests the upcoming discussion won’t be a routine status update.
The internal dynamics
The insistence on an in‑person meeting is itself a signal. Remote work is still common at Meta, but leaders sometimes mandate physical gatherings when they want to reset culture, surface hard choices together, or rally teams around a single plan. For engineers and product teams who have seen steady cuts, an all‑hands could be a clearinghouse — equal parts accountability and morale management.
There’s also a practical angle: fusing AI into devices and immersive platforms often requires cross‑discipline collaboration (software, hardware, UX, and safety/privacy). Those conversations happen faster face‑to‑face, people inside the company say.
The stakes beyond Meta
What happens at Reality Labs matters beyond Menlo Park. If Meta finds a commercially viable way to stitch AI into AR wearables, it could accelerate an industry shift toward AI‑driven mixed reality experiences and force competitors to respond. If the division pares back significantly, it will be a sign that expensive long‑term bets on the metaverse are giving way to AI‑first product plays.
Either way, the all‑hands will be watched by employees, investors and rivals. Bosworth’s meeting on January 14 is less a single moment than a marker: a snapshot of how a company known for moonshots handles a pivot when ambition runs headlong into the bottom line.
Expect clarity on where Reality Labs stands — and, probably, more questions than easy answers as Meta balances engineering dreams with financial reality.