AI21 Labs Cuts Staff to 70 from 180, Shifts to AI Agent Management Platform

According to Calcalist, Israel-based AI startup AI21 Labs announced on May 18 that it will reduce its workforce from approximately 180 people to around 70 as part of a strategic restructuring focused on Maestro, its AI agent management platform. The company will discontinue selling standalone language models due to unsustainable economics. AI21 also ended acquisition talks with Nebius and instead signed a commercial partnership. The company has already secured Maestro deployment contracts worth tens of millions of dollars, including agreements with Nebius and Wix.