11/04/2026

BIZ & FINANCE SATURDAY | APR 11, 2026

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Meta transfers top engineers to new AI tooling team NEW YORK: Meta is drafting top software engineers from across the company into a new AI engineering organisation created last month, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters, part of a reorganisation of its workforce in preparation for layoffs. The social media company is starting to inform staffers selected for transfer into the Applied AI (AAI) Engineering unit this week, according to the memo, authored by the head of the new organisation Maher Saba. Saba, a vice-president in the Reality Labs division and longtime lieutenant of chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth, had initially invited volunteers to sign up for the organisation when he announced its establishment last month. Joining was no longer voluntary, he said in his new memo. The company was “now moving to the next phase: scaling the team” and had worked with leaders across Meta to “identify strong SWE (software engineer) talent” for it. “AAI is one of the company’s highest priorities and we’re resourcing it by moving our strongest talent to address it. Therefore, the transfers aren’t optional,“ he wrote, responding to a question from an employee. A Meta spokesman declined to comment on the memo, first reported by the Information , or plans for the team. The reorganisation comes as Meta plans sweeping layoffs that could eliminate tens of thousands of jobs at the company, as it seeks to offset costly artificial intelligence infrastructure bets and prepare for greater efficiency brought about by AI assisted workers. The Applied AI organisation is part of that vision, tasked with building tools and evaluations to accelerate the development of AI agents that can write code and carry out complex tasks autonomously. The end goal, Saba said last month, was to have the agents perform the bulk of the work to build, test and ship products and infrastructure at Meta, with human staffers monitoring them. The Facebook and Instagram owner has pushed employees to hit targets for AI usage this year and has restructured some teams within Reality Labs to be “AI native,“ with fewer managers keeping tabs on large teams using AI-generated reports on their performance. CEO Mark Zuckerberg alluded to the transformation he had planned for the company in a January call with investors, saying he expected 2026 to be “the year that AI starts to dramatically change the way that we work.” “We’re investing in AI-native tooling so individuals at Meta can get more done, we’re elevating individual contributors, and flattening teams,“ he said. If the plan is successful, he added, “then I think that we’re going to get a lot more done and I think it’ll be a lot more fun.”

Iran war shock pulls China out of deflation

o Rising input prices hit manufacturers as firms struggle to pass costs to consumers

BEIJING: China’s factory-gate prices rose for the first time in more than three years in March, in an early sign that the war in Iran is feeding cost pressures into the world’s second-largest economy. Economists warn that a shift to inflation driven by higher costs rather than stronger demand could leave Beijing boxed in, squeezing corporate margins, crimping growth and narrowing room for stimulus at a time when the economy is already fragile. The producer price index (PPI) increased 0.5% from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed yesterday, ending a 41-month streak of declines driven partly by intense corporate price-cutting in a phenomenon dubbed locally as “involution”. The reading slightly outpaced an estimated 0.4% rise in a Reuters poll. “Imported inflation is not friendly to the economy,” said Xing Zhaopeng, senior China strategist at ANZ. “To eradicate the risk of deflation, China still needs to continue to promote ‘anti-involution’ efforts and stimulate domestic demand.” An input-cost shock to the world’s largest manufacturing base – which employs hundreds of millions – threatens to pile pressure on jobs and wages. Already, a quarter of manufacturing firms are operating at a loss after years of industrial overcapacity sparked relentless price wars. Chronically weak domestic consumption and fading external demand leave the economy with little cushion. China needs to weigh rising inflation risks against slowing growth, a central bank adviser said in late March. China’s yuan held steady against the dollar after the inflation data, while mainland equity markets advanced in line with most regional bourses. Producer prices surged in energy-intensive

Inside China’s factories, rising costs are tightening the squeeze on production and profits. - REUTERSPIX

February, and forecasts of a 1.2% gain. On a monthly basis, CPI fell 0.7%, compared with forecasts for a 0.2% decline and a 1% rise in February. “Among the Asia economies which have reported March inflation data so far, (China) is the only one that experienced a month-on month CPI decline,” said Xu Tianchen, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit. “In a cost-push inflation cycle, firms normally can’t fully pass on price hikes to end consumers. As they absorb part of the cost increases, it hits their profits.” Since late February, China has allowed domestic fuel prices to rise but has capped increases to help cushion the blow from surging oil prices. Core CPI, excluding food and fuel, grew 1.1% year-on-year, versus a 1.8% rise in February. “Our framework suggests onshore prices would need to rise much more materially before generating the kind of inflation signal that would warrant a meaningful shift in policy bias,” said Marco Sun, chief financial market analyst at MUFG (China). – Reuters

industries, with the non-ferrous metal mining sector recording a 36.4% jump last month and non-ferrous metal smelting and processing posting a 22.4% rise. “It is not clear how much of it was driven by weaker supply due to the conflict in the Middle East versus stronger demand driven by the (government’s) anti-involution campaign,” said Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management. “The situation in the Middle East remains highly uncertain. So is the inflation outlook for many countries, including China.” Indeed, the war has upended the economic calculus globally as policymakers must balance slowing growth against the risk of a spike in inflation. Japan’s wholesale inflation jumped in March, ratcheting up market nerves over the possibility of a rate hike as soon as this month. Meanwhile, China’s consumer price inflation eased slightly in March, but this may be a short-lived phenomenon as the Middle East war drives up costs. The consumer price index (CPI) rose 1% year-on-year versus a 1.3% advance in Montreal-based IFALPA has member associations in Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Kuwait and Lebanon, according to its website. It does not list member associations at major Gulf carriers in the UAE and Qatar, which are not unionized. Middle Eastern carriers have said they prioritize safety. Flights to and from the UAE and Qatar are operating through dedicated corridors set with regulators. Reuters attempted to contact more than a dozen pilots based in the Gulf to discuss whether they were comfortable flying in the current environment, but all declined to speak even on condition of anonymity or did not respond to queries. After the ceasefire was announced, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency extended its ban on European airlines operating in the airspace of several Gulf countries, including the UAE and Qatar, until April 24. But

Pilots fear backlash for refusing Middle East flights, group says NEW DELHI: Airline pilots who have safety concerns about flying in the Middle East during the Iran war have told a global aviators’ union group they fear blowback ranging from lost pay to being fired if they refuse assignments, its president Ron Hay said. a positive safety culture where pilots were encouraged to speak up. “That’s been lacking in the Middle East region for quite some time and it’s just been exacerbated by this conflict,“ Hay said. carriers based in Dubai and Doha are continuing to fly there, as are Indian airlines. Concerns from aviators operating in the Middle East led IFALPA to publish a paper this week reminding airlines that pilots must be given a “non-negotiable” say on safety, Hay said.

A bulletin issued by the UN’s aviation agency on Thursday called mental health risks in conflict zones “safety critical.” “Personnel engaged in civil aviation operations within or near conflict zones can experience higher levels of stress, anxiety and fatigue – both on the ground and in the air,“ the bulletin said. Hay said pilots who are flying into the region have lamented a lack of guidance on risks, making it harder to plan if an airport is suddenly shut due to a drone attack. In late March, Indian member pilots of IFALPA called Air India’s continued operation of flights to the impacted Gulf region a “grave concern.” The pilot group urged the country’s civil aviation regulator in a letter to suspend operations until a centralized “risk assessment is conducted.”

Pilots from Lebanon to India have voiced “widespread” concerns they could face sanctions if they do not fly in often unpredictable conditions where airspace can close with little notice due to missile or drone strikes, according to the head of the International Federation of Air Line Pilot’ Associations. “There is an underlying fear of retribution,“ Hay told Reuters in his first interview on the matter. His comments come as some Middle Eastern carriers continue to restore flights even as a two-week ceasefire announced on Tuesday faces challenges from continued attacks. Hay, a Delta Air Lines captain, said some of the pilots worried about being fired. For others, “they may not lose their job but they (managers) may say,‘Don’t fly the trip and you don’t get paid for it.’” He declined to name the airlines involved but said these were examples of how not to run