I have been covering tech for years now, and I have seen companies do some questionable things in the name of innovation. But Meta’s latest move might just take the cake.
According to a Reuters report, Meta is installing tracking software on its employees’ work computers. The tool, called Model Capability Initiative (MCI), will log mouse movements, clicks, and keystrokes. It will also take occasional screenshots of employees’ screens.
The reason? Meta says its AI struggles to replicate the way humans interact with computers. It seems that Meta wants to compete with the likes of Claude Cowork and Perplexity Computer, but is unable to crack the technical challenges.
And apparently, the best way to fix that is to silently harvest data from every employee, every day, as they go about their work.
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth said the goal is to build AI agents that “primarily do the work” while employees simply “direct, review, and help them improve.” Essentially, Meta wants you to train your own replacement while sitting at your desk.
Is this even legal?
In the United States, it is. There are no federal laws that prevent employers from monitoring employees at this level. Companies are only required, in some states, to broadly inform workers that they are being monitored. That’s it.
In Europe, it’s a different story. Such monitoring would likely violate the General Data Protection Regulation. Countries like Italy have outright bans on this type of electronic tracking, and German courts allow keystroke logging only in exceptional circumstances.
So it seems that Meta’s European employees are currently safe from such an authoritarian policy, but its employees in the United States are not so lucky. Meta is essentially doing something in the United States that is almost illegal in other parts of the developed world.
Are workers okay with this?
Unsurprisingly, no. And this isn’t just a Meta problem. In China, a very similar situation is unfolding. According to an MIT Technology report, bosses are directing workers to meticulously document their workflows so that AI agents can eventually replace them.
Some workers have started pushing back. One AI product manager built a tool that rewrites worker manuals into language that is too vague and non-actionable for an AI agent to follow.
Why Meta’s approach seems far more egregious
Meta’s move is especially egregious because it’s not even asking employees to document anything. It’s just watching everything. Every click, every keystroke, every screenshot taken without asking.
The data won’t be used to evaluate performance, according to the company. But forgive me if I find that hard to believe when Meta is also planning to lay off 10% of its global workforce next month. And that’s just the first round of layoffs. Who knows how many more employees will receive the dreaded 6 AM emails informing them that their jobs no longer exist?
I understand that AI is changing how companies operate. I get it. But there is a stark difference between using AI to make workers more efficient and surveilling workers to make AI capable enough to eliminate them. Meta appears to have crossed that line without blinking.
