Meta Refocuses Reality Labs, Forms Applied AI Engineering Group to Advance Superintelligence Push
Meta Platforms’ Reality Labs has long overseen Quest headsets, smart glasses and the metaverse but continues to incur heavy losses. Meta invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI in June 2025 and created Meta Superintelligence Labs, signaling a shift in capital and talent toward generative AI and “personal superintelligence.” The latest restructuring therefore affects the direction of both hardware and software development.
Meta announced in December 2025 that it was creating an Applied AI engineering organization within Reality Labs, led by Vice President Maher Saba. The group will work with Meta Superintelligence Labs to bring models into products more quickly. The company is also moving engineers into the new organization and evaluating the use of its own chips for model training. Meta did not disclose any additional budget, number of layoffs or timetable for completing the organizational changes.
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The history behind this eventMeta Shifts Horizon Worlds Focus From VR to Mobile, Steps Up AI Investment
Meta changed its name from Facebook in October 2021 and opened Horizon Worlds to Quest users in North America that December, positioning the virtual world for creating, playing and socializing as a cornerstone of its metaverse strategy. The decision to separate Worlds from Quest VR signals that Meta no longer sees its own VR social platform as its primary growth engine. It is redirecting resources toward the broader mobile market and AI.
Meta announced on February 19, 2026, that Horizon Worlds would adopt a mobile-first strategy. Monthly mobile users quadrupled in 2025, while the platform had more than 2,000 mobile-exclusive Worlds. On March 19, Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth clarified that the VR version would retain existing content but would receive no new games or major investment. Meta is also planning capital expenditure of $115 billion to $135 billion in 2026 to support its superintelligence labs and core businesses.
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