Flyers have been posted throughout Meta’s offices in the United States as employees voice their opposition to new surveillance software aimed at training artificial intelligence. The protest comes just days before the company is set to reduce its workforce by 10% on May 20, as reported by Reuters.
Referred to as the Model Capability Initiative, the software monitors mouse movements, clicks, keystrokes, and occasionally captures screenshots of work-related applications, according to a previous Reuters report on Meta’s latest employee monitoring system. Meta’s Chief Technology Officer, Andrew Bosworth, explained to employees that the data collection is part of the “Agent Transformation Accelerator” initiative, envisioning a future where AI agents carry out primary tasks, leaving humans to oversee, evaluate, and assist in their enhancement.
Employees expressing their dissent distributed leaflets in meeting spaces, on vending machines, and even on toilet paper dispensers, labeling the company as an “employee data extraction factory”, as noted in the recent Reuters report. The flyers urge coworkers to join a petition against the software, which many believe is being utilized to create their digital replacements.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone verified to Reuters that the collected data is utilized for model training rather than performance evaluations, emphasizing the presence of safeguards for sensitive information. Nevertheless, legal experts point out that while US federal law allows such monitoring, European regulations in countries like Italy and Germany would likely prohibit these actions.
The resistance has extended to the United Kingdom, where employees are uniting through the United Tech and Allied Workers union. Operating under the URL ‘Leanin.uk’, the group is enlisting members to challenge the company’s management.
Union organizer Eleanor Payne accused executives of pursuing speculative AI strategies while subjecting employees to “draconian surveillance” to train systems that are meant to replace them, according to the Reuters report.
Meta’s impending job cuts come in the wake of similar downsizing at Amazon and Block, highlighting a broader trend in the industry towards AI-powered restructuring.
