Indian-origin founder offers jobs to laid off Meta employees with base salary up to Rs 5.2 crore

Sudarshan Kamath’s initiative positioned Smallest AI among a growing number of companies attempting to attract displaced Meta talent.

Following Meta Platforms’ decision to cut around 600 positions from its artificial intelligence division, Smallest AI, a San Francisco-based startup founded by Indian-origin entrepreneur Sudarshan Kamath, announced open recruitment for those impacted by the move.

Kamath, who leads the speech-focused AI company, shared the invitation on social media, encouraging recently laid-off Meta employees to apply for positions in the firm’s speech AI team. He said that the available roles would offer base salaries between $200,000 and $600,000, with additional equity-based compensation.

He outlined the skill areas required for these high-level posts, stating that applicants must have demonstrable experience in speech evaluation, speech generation, and full-duplex speech-to-speech systems. Kamath also made clear the competitive nature of the selection process, writing that candidates should be “f*ing smart and hungry**.”

“Laid off from Meta? We are hiring in the speech team for Smallest AI in San Francisco!” Kamath announced, inviting qualified individuals to message him directly.

Laid off from Meta?

We are hiring in speech team for Smallest AI in San Francisco!

Comp -
Equity - Flexible

Looking for - experience with speech evals, speech generation, full duplex speech to speech

Must be - fkin smart and hungry.

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DM me.

— Sudarshan Kamath (@kamath_sutra) October 23, 2025

The announcement came only hours after reports confirmed that Meta had carried out large-scale cuts within its AI infrastructure, Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR), and AI product divisions. While the company has been consolidating its research and engineering teams under a leaner structure, some employees from affected units were expected to be reassigned internally.

According to reports, the severance package provided to those impacted included at least 16 weeks of pay, covering employment through November 2025.

The recent downsizing has not affected Meta’s elite TBD Lab, which continues to expand under CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s direction. The lab has been strengthened in recent months through aggressive hiring of AI specialists from OpenAI and Apple.

Kamath’s initiative positioned Smallest AI among a growing number of companies attempting to attract displaced Meta talent. Several founders and executives from other startups also expressed similar intentions.

Ben Taylor, founder of Spec, wrote online: “To everyone impacted by today’s Meta AI layoffs: the work you’ve done has shaped how all of us think about intelligence. With Spec, we’re building ambient intelligence that’s human-centred, contextual, and privacy-first. If you’ve been part of what made Meta AI great and are looking for what’s next, my DMs are open!”

To everyone impacted by today’s Meta AI layoffs:

The work you’ve done has shaped how all of us think about intelligence.

With @spec, we're building ambient intelligence that’s human-centered, contextual, and privacy-first.

If you’ve been part of what made Meta AI great and are…

— Ben (@benktaytay) October 22, 2025

Similarly, Lucas Atkins of Arcee AI extended an open invitation: “If you were recently laid off at Meta Gen AI, my DMs are open. Help us build the next frontier of Apache-2.0 models.”

Carina Hong, who is involved in recruitment for Axiom, also posted a message aimed at those affected. “You are world-class. We have read your work. You deserve a new place you call home,” she wrote.