Meta has abruptly halted a company-wide program that tracked employees’ computer usage for AI training data, following a furious internal backlash and fears that collected data was left exposed.
The program, called the Model Capability Initiative (MCI), was launched just two months ago with the aim of gathering data on how people use computers — including mouse clicks and keystrokes — to train artificial intelligence models. But it was met immediately with upset from workers who objected to having every online action at work recorded and were concerned about where the data was going and how it would be protected.
“Meta halts a program tracking employee computer usage after data was left exposed and workers signed a petition with nearly 2,000 signatures.”
Those concerns escalated after Meta realised some of the collected data had been left potentially accessible to anyone inside the company. The company paused the program on Monday while it investigates the issue.
“We have no indication at this time that any data was improperly accessed by Meta employees,” a Meta spokesman told the BBC, adding that MCI is “on pause for now.”
The pause follows weeks of blow-back from workers at the company, led by billionaire Mark Zuckerberg. Nearly 2,000 Meta employees signed a petition demanding the MCI program be cancelled. In an initial attempt to calm the revolt, Meta said it would allow workers to not be tracked for up to 30 minutes at a time.
“That was just an attempt at damage control,” one current employee told the BBC, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Another Meta employee, who also asked not to be identified, said that while many technical workers are open to improving AI models and competing with firms like Anthropic and OpenAI, the fact that tracking “was forced on us, there was no consent” left people angry. “I’ve never seen morale here so bad,” the employee said.
Frustration inside Meta has been compounded by extensive layoffs and a major reorganisation around AI initiatives, on which the company is spending up to $145bn (£109bn) this year alone. According to a report in Wired, employees have openly insulted management in an internal meeting about the AI-driven changes.
A person who recently left Meta after several years said the constant reorganisation and spending in an effort to catch up on AI feels like “chasing your tail.”
“The direction this company is going in is depressing,” the former employee said. “Exhausting and depressing.”