The tech giant Meta laid off about 700 employees as part of a strategic move aimed at accelerating the company's artificial intelligence (AI) strategy, The New York Times reported on Wednesday. This wave of layoffs came 24 hours after the company unveiled a new and ambitious incentive plan for its top executives, which aims to reach a market capitalization of nine trillion dollars by 2031. The program includes six key leaders to retain talent in the competitive AI race, among them: Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth; Chief Product Officer Chris Cox; Chief Operating Officer, the Spanish Javier Oliván; and Chief Financial Officer Susan Li. Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has repeatedly defended the need to continue investing in AI, an approach that aligns with the stance of Meta's parent company, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, to streamline teams and replace a large portion of the workforce, as other tech companies have already done. The tech giant's plans for a deep transformation come amid two legal defeats the company has suffered this week. On Wednesday, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube liable for harming the mental health of minors in a landmark lawsuit over social media addiction, for which they will have to pay a $3 million compensation. This ruling adds to the verdict delivered yesterday by a New Mexico jury, which also found Meta guilty of concealing information about deficiencies in its platforms and business practices that facilitated the sexual exploitation of children and was fined $375 million.