Start Up No.2659: Meta to cut 10% of staff, the AI money squeeze is coming, aluminium prices rocket, the idiot intellectuals, and more

In future table tennis players might find an AI-powered robot across the table, as one just defeated some top-ranked amateurs. CC-licensed photo by Gaël Marziou on Flickr. You can sign up to receive each day’s Start Up post by email. You’ll need to click a confirmation link, so no spam. A selection of 9 links for you. Table stakes. I’m @charlesarthur on Twitter. On Threads: charles_arthur. On Mastodon: https://newsie.social/@charlesarthur. On Bluesky: @charlesarthur.bsky.social. Observations and links welcome. Meta to lay off 10% of workforce in AI push • The New York Times Mike Isaac and Eli Tan: » Meta plans to cut 10% of its work force, or roughly 8,000 employees, and close another 6,000 open roles, according to an internal memo on Thursday, as the company spends heavily on developing artificial intelligence. Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, employed more than 78,000 people at the end of 2025. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, has said he expects much of…