Meta plans to track employees’ mouse and keyboard movements to accumulate data for AI training. The goal is to improve the company’s AI agents that replicate human interaction with computers, Reuters informationciting an internal memo shared with employees.
The monitoring software, called the Model Capability Initiative (MCI), will be installed on work computers. The software will track employees’ mouse and keyboard activity on work-related apps and websites and occasionally capture screenshots of their work content.
“If we’re building agents to help people complete everyday tasks using computers, our models need real examples of how people actually use them: things like mouse movements, button clicks, and navigation through drop-down menus,” a Meta spokesperson told Reuters.
Employee surveillance tools often raise privacy concerns and contribute to unhealthy work environments. Meta tells Reuters that data collected through its MCI system will not be used for performance reviews and will include security measures to protect confidential employee information. For now, this monitoring is limited to the company’s employees in the United States.
The report comes at a time when advances in AI continue to leave people unemployed. Meta itself plans to begin layoffs on May 20, Reuters information in a separate article. The company dismissed hundreds of employees of its Metaverse division earlier this year. The latest round will cut 8,000 more jobs, representing around 10% of its global workforce.
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Meta won’t stop there. The second half of the year will bring more job cuts, sources told Reuters.
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