Clicks, keyboard strokes, screen captures... Meta will spy on its employees to train its AI

Meta is about to deploy a new tracking tool on the computers of its U.S.-based employees. The software will capture mouse movements, clicks, and keyboard inputs to feed the training of its AI models.

Also read: A robot works 8 hours in a Siemens factory – here's the real breakthrough in robotics

What Meta will collect (and what it doesn't say)

The program has a reassuring name: « Model Capability Initiative ». An internal memo, released in the Meta Superintelligence Labs team channel and reviewed by Reuters, details its operation. The tool will run in the background on a list of professional applications and websites. Screenshots will be taken occasionally.

The stated goal: teaching Meta's AI agents to replicate the daily actions of a human in front of a screen. Navigating a dropdown menu, using a shortcut, clicking in the right place. Trivial gestures that current models still struggle to replicate (which says a lot about the real state of « autonomous AI »). The memo invites employees to contribute « simply by doing their usual work. »

Meta Superintelligence Labs is led by Alexandr Wang, former CEO of Scale AI. Meta acquired 49% of Scale's shares last year for over 14 billion dollars. The company plans up to 135 billion dollars in investment spending by 2026, heavily focused on AI.

Training a replacement, then receiving a termination letter

Meta plans to lay off approximately 8,000 people on May 20, which is 10% of its global workforce. Other cuts are expected in the second half of the year. In March, press reports mentioned a plan that could reach up to 20% of the 79,000 employees in the company. The company had labeled these projections as "speculative."

Specifically, Meta is asking its employees to feed agents designed to automate office tasks. Meanwhile, it is preparing thousands of job cuts. The memo does not address the coincidence. The race for autonomous agents also involves OpenAI and Anthropic, who are all seeking the same data: concrete examples of humans working in front of a computer.

👉🏻 Follow real-time tech news: add 01net to your Google sources, and subscribe to our WhatsApp channel.

Source : Reuters