Meta will track keystrokes, clicks, and mouse usage to train the AI

Meta will track the keystrokes, clicks and mouse movements its employees make — and even take screenshots of what’s on their computer screens — to help train the company’s AI models. this According to Reuters Tuesday’s report cited an internal memo sent to workers.

According to the memo, Meta will install a new software program called the Modular Capability Initiative on the computers of employees and contractors residing in the United States. The tracking software will work on work-related apps and websites and is part of Meta’s plan to build AI agents that can carry out tasks autonomously.

advertising, Published in its entirety Business Insider said the monitored apps and URLs will include Gmail, GChat, and Metamate, an AI assistant for employees. Workers’ phones will not be included in the tracking.

Business Insider reported that Meta They were “in arms” About the tracking software usage plan.

On one internal communication site viewed by the media, an employee wrote: “This makes me feel very uncomfortable. How can we unsubscribe?”

“There’s no way to opt out on your work laptop,” Andrew Bosworth, Meta CTO, responded, prompting employees to respond with shocked, crying and angry emojis, according to Business Insider.

While investing in the development of artificial intelligence – More than $135 billion this year – Meta continues to reduce staff. Company It plans to lay off about 8,000 employees10% of its workforce of 79,000, as of May 20. According to what was reported in the company It eliminated 25,000 jobs Since 2022.

AI meta monitoring

Meta wants to train its AI on tasks it can’t yet replicate, focusing on how people actually use their computers. This includes actions such as selecting options from drop-down menus and using keyboard shortcuts.

“This is where all Meta employees can help our models improve simply by doing their daily work,” the memo said.

Reuters said the memo was posted by an anonymous artificial intelligence research scientist on Tuesday in a channel for the company’s Superintelligence Labs team.

According to Reuters, Bosworth told employees that the long-term vision is for AI agents to “do the work” while employees mentor them and help them improve. He did not specifically say how agents would be trained on the data, but he said Meta would rigorously collect data for “all types of interactions we have as we do our work.”

Eric Knoll, Director of the Privacy and Data Project at Digital Rights Watch Center for Democracy and TechnologyMeta’s plan to track employees’ computer interactions is one of the most “invasive” forms of surveillance in the workplace, he said.

“This invasion underscores the need for clear privacy protections and guardrails for AI,” Noll told CNET. “This type of surveillance can cause real harm to people with disabilities, and workers in general Anger in this kind of tracking. “Using this data for AI training in particular has the potential to replicate structural biases.”

In a statement provided to CNET, a Meta spokesperson said that employee tracking is intended to give AI models “real-life examples” of how people interact with their computers.

“To help, we are launching an internal tool that captures these types of inputs in certain applications to help us train our models,” the spokesperson said. “There are safeguards in place to protect sensitive content, and the data is not used for any other purpose.”

Meta said it would not use the data collected in performance reviews and that managers would not be able to see it.

Business Insider quoted an unnamed source as saying that when they are hired, employees are told that their work devices can be monitored by Meta.

Bad optics

Despite its bad looks, Meta assumes it can extract significant value from collecting data from employees’ computer interactions, said Bill Howe, an assistant professor at the University of Washington’s School of Information.

“Employees everywhere are helping train the systems that will take their jobs,” Howe told CNET.

Meta appeared to raise its profile in the AI ​​race earlier this month When I unveiled the Muse Sparkthe first artificial intelligence model developed by Superintelligence Labs. This week, Meta also broke ground Data center planned in Tulsa, Oklahomawhich, when completed, will be the company’s 28th in the United States.

Howe said the federal government must pass new tax laws to “address emerging inequality,” as multibillion-dollar technology companies continue to increase profits for investors while cutting headcount.

“As Meta shows, companies are ultimately not incentivized to care about workers, so we need solutions at the federal level,” Howe said.