Facebook Names New Chief Technology Officer As Mike Schroepfer Plans To Step Down In 2022

In a major development, Facebook Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer has announced his decision to step down from his role. While announcing his decision, Schroepfer said that he will transition to a part-time role with the company. He will take the role of ‘senior fellow’. According to a filing, Schroepfer informed the company about his intention to step down this week. He will step down in 2022 and will be replaced by Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth, who is serving as head of the hardware division of Facebook. Bosworth congratulated Schroepfer for his 13-year long journey at the company. It was during his tenure when Facebook embraced artificial intelligence. Facebook now relies heavily on AI. Tasks like content moderation are done completely with the help of AI. This is why his exit from the company is an important moment for Facebook. Though the company has seen several high-profile exits in recent years. Fidji Simo and David Fischer are some of them. But none was considered close to the Zuckerberg as Schroepfer.

“This was not an easy decision to make for me because of how much I love this organization and how excited I am about the future we are building together,” he said in a Facebook post. Talking about his future plans, Bosworth said he wants to spend his extra time with family and in philanthropy. The decision of Facebook to elevate Bosworth as the CTO clearly indicates that the priority of hardware among Facebook is very high considering its future plan. This comes close on the heels of the announcement that the metaverse will be a major focus of Facebook’s Oculus division. Also, Facebook recently launched smart glasses. For this, the social media giant partnered with Ray-Ban. It has also announced a new generation of Portal video-calling devices. These developments clearly indicate how Facebook is slowly shifting its focus towards hardware.

The change in leadership is important considering several reports indicating how Facebook either ignores or fails to properly address several problems that directly affect users across its services. This included issues related to the impact of the photo-sharing platform Instagram on the health of teenage girls. The new chief technical officer would continue to oversee the Facebook Reality Labs division. Bosworth will also overlook Facebook’s efforts in virtual reality and augmented reality, said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a blog post. Zuckerberg also thanked Schroepfer for guiding the company for over a decade. Schroepfer had joined the company in the year 2008. He had joined the company as vice president of engineering. He has been working as the chief technical officer of the company since March 2013. After stepping down from the post, he will continue to be associated with the company as a senior fellow. Once in that role, he will help develop technical talent and Facebook in hiring new employees. Schroepfer will also work on the artificial intelligence project of the company.