Meta’s decision to track employee keystrokes and mouse data is causing chaos in the company. “Selfishly, I don’t want my screen turned off because it feels like my privacy is being invaded,” the developer wrote in an internal post seen by nearly 20,000 of my coworkers this week. But in hindsight, I don’t want to live in a country where people—labor or otherwise—are exploited for their training.”
This message was intended to encourage support for a petition that has been circulating within the company since last Thursday calling for the end of what Meta calls the Model Capability Initiative. It’s a piece of mandatory software that Meta began installing on American workers’ laptops last month. The tool records workers’ screens when using certain applications with the goal of collecting “real-world examples of how people use” computers, including “mouse movements, keystrokes, and navigation through drop-down menus,” according to Reuters. Meta has yet to say whether the initial data is paying off.
“I’m mixed on Al. On the one hand, I really enjoy using it to write software. On the other hand, I’m really nervous about its impact on the world,” the developer wrote on an internal code forum. “And what kind of rules are we establishing about how technology is used, and how people are going to be treated?”
The petition, also seen by WIRED, states that “it should not be the norm for companies of any size to be allowed to exploit their employees by releasing their information without consent for Al’s training purposes.”
In the US, employers generally have broad latitude to oversee employee resources for safety, training, testing, and safety purposes. But using these tools to create data sets that teach AI systems to navigate computers without human supervision seems like a new strategy—and one that doesn’t sit well with many Meta employees. Over the past few years, several companies have jumped into the race to develop AI models for agents. But when they collect data, they often involve volunteers, sometimes paid, who are willing to have their computer activity recorded.
Meta’s decision to move forward with its tracking tool despite weeks of employee protest has been one of the main reasons for what 16 current and former employees recently described to WIRED as a poor record of behavior. He is also the lead driver of the workforce integration effort at Meta’s UK offices.
“AI models for on-the-job supervision and training are the first thing,” said Eleanor Payne, a representative of the United Tech and Allied Workers, which helps organize Meta’s workforce. He refused to specify the number of workers who want to form a labor union but called it “important” and unprecedented.
While only US workers are subject to tracking, UK workers are concerned about their colleagues and the possibility of the program being expanded. “I see it as a breakdown of trust,” Payne said. New laws easing unionization in the UK have encouraged workers with opportunities to succeed, he adds.
At Meta’s offices in California and New York, employees have been posting flyers in restaurants and other public places to point their colleagues at the request. Two employees, who did not want their names to be revealed because they are not authorized to talk to the media, said that the company has removed some of the posters, which were placed on the walls of the bathrooms that look like they will last for a long time.
