Tech titan John Carmack leaves Meta amid doubts about Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse push
Meta just took another hit. John Carmack, a virtual reality pioneer, is leaving his senior consulting role at the company – and complaining about its inefficiency as he leaves.
Its departure comes as investors are increasingly concerned about CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s obsession with the Metaverse, a largely unrealized virtual world that has been underwhelming users and could take years to become profitable, if it ever does. (Even meta-staff directly involved in the effort don’t seem particularly impressed.)
While Meta remains a juggernaut thanks to Facebook and Instagram, it has seen slowed growth on social media and has spent huge sums on the Metaverse. The company announced large-scale layoffs last month and has seen its shares fall more than 60% this year.
Carmack explained his reasons for leaving Meta in a suicide note shared to Facebook on Friday, writing, “We have a ridiculous amount of people and resources, but we constantly self-sabotage and waste our efforts. There is no way to sugarcoat this; I think our organization operates at half the effectiveness that would make me happy.”
He added in a tweet that he’s “always been quite frustrated with the way things are done on FB/Meta. Everything necessary for spectacular success is there, but it is not put together effectively.”
wealth reached out to Meta for comment outside of regular business hours and will update this piece with each reply.
Carmack is widely known for his work with virtual reality headsets. He was the chief technology officer of Oculus, the VR company that Facebook bought for $2 billion in 2014. He was also the lead programmer for many revolutionary video games including demise and quake.
His exit will do little to calm investors’ concerns about Meta’s direction, and many in the tech industry are pondering the inefficiency of large companies.
Frustration at Meta
Carmack’s suicide note “summarizes a statement I’ve heard from literally all of the most influential/effective people I’ve spoken to at large corporations: You can make a world of difference, but you constantly fight against a self-sabotaging organization,” tweeted Dan Luu, a former Twitter engineer.
“Feels strange to think that even people of his caliber will rise to these challenges.” tweeted Vittorio Bertocci, main architect for Auth0.
Carmack’s caliber was reflected in the gratitude seen in the comments below his farewell note, with some software engineers saying he inspired them to enter the profession.
Facebook CTO Andrew Bosworth was no less effusive. tweet on Friday: “It’s impossible to overestimate the impact you’ve had on our work and the industry at large. Your technical prowess is widely recognized, but it’s your relentless focus on creating value for people that we will remember most. Thank you and see you soon in VR.”
In an August interview on the Lex Fridman podcast, Carmack shared why virtual reality inspired him: “My suggestion was that it should be better in the headset than out – the world as you want it… I think it will be.” be a positive thing, this world where people want to go back into their headset.”
Carmack will now focus on its startup Keen Technologies, which raised $20 million in August. His goal is a human-like artificial intelligence, or AGI for short (Artificial General Intelligence).
As he tweeted At the time of funding, it read “AGI or pleite, by Mad Science”.
That’s a lofty goal – some would say unattainable – but at least it’s less hampered by the bureaucracy trying to achieve it.
Our new weekly Impact Report newsletter explores how ESG news and trends are shaping the roles and responsibilities of today’s leaders. Subscribe here.
