iWorld
On Air with AIB Season 3 returns on Hotstar
Mumbai : With two wildly successful seasons under their belt, India’s best known comedians are back with the third season of On Air with AIB on Hotstar, India’s leading streaming platform. The new season kicks off today, and will feature episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, exclusively on Hotstar.
The AIB team have spent two previous seasons on Hotstar cutting absurdities down to size, but the gap between seasons has provided lots more fodder for a whole new set of episodes featuring issues that don’t get called out enough.
From the issue of open defecation to the woes of unmarried young lovers who are denied accommodation, the discussions run the full gamut and served up with often scathing, always hilarious commentary. With every episode, be prepared to laugh along with the inimitable quartet at their refreshing take on topics that matter.
In the words of a Hotstar spokesperson, “The group have caused ripples during the first two seasons and elicited plenty of laughs, so it made perfect sense to keep going! With a fresh and exciting take on the day-to-day issues facing the country, AIB has a unique way of addressing the hairiest of topics with their unique brand of comedy while appealing to a wide range of audiences.”
On Air with AIB Season 3 will see Tanmay Bhat, Gursimran Khamba, Rohan Joshi and Ashish Shakya presenting their signature satirical take on the social issues facing the country. With a brand of humour that brings to the forefront the contradictions inherent in modern life, no bridge is too far for them. This season will feature three segments that will see a host of topical issues covered on Mondays, followed by a deep dive into a particular topic on Wednesdays, while Fridays will see an ad hoc, off-the-wall conversation, Off-Script, between the quartet and a special guest on their favourite bugbears, of which there are many. Tempt not their wrath, or you might just end up in their sights!
You can watch the first episode here –
https://www.hotstar.com/tv/on-air-with-aib/s-373/seasons/season-3/ss-6020
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
