As if activity-monitoring software installed on your work computer that snitches on you if you’re away from the keyboard for too long wasn’t enough, Meta is taking the trend to its logical — and dystopian surveillance state-level — conclusion.
As Reuters reports, the Mark Zuckerberg-led company is installing new tracking software on all of its US-based employees’ computers that tracks all of their mouse movements and keystrokes, data that will be used for training the company’s AI models.
The company is reportedly looking to develop AI agents that can complete work tasks autonomously, in perhaps one of the more conspicuous efforts to automate human workers’s jobs we’ve come across as of late.
Besides the ethical concerns of forcing employees to train their AI replacements, the news also raises thorny questions regarding data privacy. Meta, in particular, has garnered an incredibly poor reputation when it comes to protecting personal data.
According to an internal memo obtained by Reuters, the software is called “Model Capability Initiative” and will run on work-related apps and websites. It will even take occasional screenshots.
The goal is to guide Meta’s AI models to essentially replicate the way humans interact with computers, like using dropdown menus or making use of keyboard shortcuts.
“This is where all Meta employees can help our models get better simply by doing their daily work,” the memo reads, as quoted by Reuters.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone told Reuters that the company is looking to implement safeguards to protect “sensitive content,” but didn’t elaborate any further.
While tracking employees’ keystrokes and mouse movement would likely be against European law, Yale University law professor Ifeoma Ajunwa told Reuters that “there is no limit on worker surveillance” in the US on a federal level.
Beyond tracking their employees’ every move, Meta is also planning to slash ten percent of its workforce across the globe starting next month — only the first of several planned cuts later this year.
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