The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is making big changes, and it started 2026 with some job cuts to recalibrate and refocus its efforts on AI-powered biomedical research.
The philanthropic organization, formed by Meta cofounder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, is cutting about 70 jobs, or roughly 8% of its workforce, a CZI spokesperson confirmed to Fortune. The layoffs happened primarily at the organization’s Redwood City headquarters in San Mateo, Calif.
In 2025, Zuckerberg and Chan laid the groundwork for remaking their philanthropic organization into one focused on AI-powered biomedical research and its flagship Biohub network in particular. Their move extends a broader retreat from the couple’s earlier push into education and social justice causes, although they’ll continue to make donations to local organizations.
“I feel like the science work that we’ve done, the Biohub model in particular, has been the most impactful thing that we have done,” Zuckerberg said during an event at the Biohub Imaging Institute in Redwood City in November, according to the Associated Press. “So we want to really double down on that. Biohub is going to be the main focus of our philanthropy going forward.” The couple has committed, through the Giving Pledge, to give away 99% of their lifetime wealth.
Their massive move also underscores how big donors are racing to back science-heavy, tech-centric projects such as peers like the Gates Foundation. The philanthropy started by Bill and Melinda French Gates will shutter in 2045 and has plans to make a record $9 billion in donations this year while remaining primarily focused on health care and disease research.
Why CZI had layoffs and its pivot to Biohub
Because the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has big plans to expand its biomedical and science focus and step a little further back from its original concentration on education, criminal justice reform, housing, and community development, it now needs employees with expertise in their new coverage areas.
While some were able to be assigned to other teams, the organization needed more research-heavy expertise to match the new mission, so some had to be laid off. They received a 60-day notice period and will get a severance package with 16 weeks of base pay, health insurance, and a $10,000 stipend to help with other needs.
The layoffs came as part of a decision to concentrate resources on Biohub, a growing network of biomedical research institutes that aims to “cure or prevent all disease,” according to Zuckerberg and Chan. It currently operates as a collaborative network of nonprofit research centers, partnering with universities like UC San Francisco, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Northwestern, and Columbia. Biohub is focused on advancing biomedical science, engineering, and artificial intelligence to cure, prevent, or manage all diseases. CZI will continue to hire and grow its team, but with more science-focused roles like researchers, data scientists, computational biologists, and more.
Since Biohub’s 2016 inception, the couple has donated $4 billion to basic science research and is on track to double that amount during the next decade, according to the AP. The organization has an operating budget of about $1 billion per year.
“We will continue our other philanthropic efforts as well, but the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will serve as infrastructure and support for our initiatives,” the couple wrote in a blog post in November. “There will be many challenges, but we believe that achieving some of humanity’s long-term dreams will also come within reach.”
CZI’s shared AI obsession with Meta
Like Zuckerberg’s $1.81 trillion tech company Meta, CZI is going all in on AI-focused research and outcomes. Both his business and philanthropic efforts are now squarely focused on AI, with Meta committed to spending between $115 billion and $135 billion on building “superintelligent” agents for user needs across feeds, ads, and commerce.
CZI’s Biohub similarly is focused on “frontier AI” and “frontier biology,” using large-scale models for virtual cells, immune reprogramming, and disease prediction. With those efforts, Zuckerberg has framed 2026 as AI’s transformative year for work at both Meta and CZI.
“Accelerating science is the most positive impact we think we can make,” Zuckerberg and Chan wrote in the November blog post. “So we’re going all in on AI-powered biology for our next chapter.”
