Following nine months of difficult repositioning that included layoffs and consolidation as Meta Platforms segued to its “year of efficiency,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently shared his plans for the company’s future with employees at an all-hands meeting. In a discussion that has been reported as an effort to help bolster staff morale during this challenging period, Zuckerberg explained his strategy regarding job cuts, offered insight on the tech giant’s approach to artificial intelligence, and took a swipe at Apple’s upcoming Vision Pro mixed reality headset while talking about his goals for VR and the metaverse.

Zuckerberg’s remarks of approximately a half-hour were made before thousands of employees at the company’s Menlo Park, California campus and live-streamed globally to tens of thousands more.

Zuckerberg said the layoffs will result in a stronger, more nimble operation that creates better products and ships them faster, according to The New York Times, sourcing “two people who attended the meeting.”

The views echoed what Zuckerberg told investors April 26 on the Q1 earnings call, when he said “I continue to believe that slowing hiring, flattening our management structure, increasing the percent of our company that is technical, and more rigorously prioritizing projects will improve the speed and quality of our work.”

Artificial intelligence was a focus. “While Meta has aggressively worked on AI for several years, it has been slower than competitors like Google and Microsoft to turn that research into consumer products,” NYT writes.

Zuckerberg shared plans for AI assistants that would aid users across WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram. He also outlined a vision for “a diverse array of AIs” to serve needs from enterprise to social users, even suggesting an AI “coach that gives you advice, encourages you,” per NYT.

Specific to his plans for the metaverse, Zuckerberg said AI “could eventually help people build new virtual world items and experiences” and “hinted that the company may bring its AI assistant into a future version of its smart glasses,” according to NYT.

He dismissed Apple’s Vision Pro headset, saying “they don’t have any magical solutions to the laws of physics that we haven’t already explored” and criticizing the $3,500 price, NYT reports.

“Our vision of the metaverse and presence is fundamentally social and about people interacting and feeling closer in new amazing ways,” said Zuckerberg. “By contrast, every demo Apple showed was someone sitting on a couch by themselves.”