The date is already marked on the calendar: next May 20 Meta is expected to launch one of the largest rounds of layoffs since those seen between late 2022 and early 2023, a period that the Group’s CEO and founder, Mark Zuckerberg, dubbed “the year of efficiency.”
AI obviously plays a role: perhaps at the moment it is not yet able to fully impose itself in business processes, but to realize the unprecedented multibillion-dollar investments promised to the American president Donald Trump (for the benefit, of course, of the US supply chain) all possible economic resources will be needed. In short, it will be necessary to tighten the belt. Hence the need to possibly cut 8,000 employees within the next few weeks and then proceed with further downsizing in the second half of 2026. And those who remain will have to, willingly or not, train the AI.
IS META SPYING ON EMPLOYEES?
According to an exclusive report by Reuters, Menlo Park is reportedly installing new tracking software on the computers of employees based in the United States to record mouse movements, clicks, and keystroke sequences.
This way, Mark Zuckerberg’s company will stockpile data that will be used, officially, to train its artificial intelligence models, as part of a broader initiative that, the news agency explains, aims to create AI agents capable of performing tasks autonomously. Supporting this are internal reminders that the company circulated to employees viewed by Reuters.
The tool, called the Model Capability Initiative (MCI), will run on company apps and websites and, as far as is known, will occasionally also take snapshots of the content displayed on the screens of the American Big Tech workers.
ALL LEGAL?
The declared purpose would be to help the company’s artificial intelligence models replicate the way humans interact on the software side with various site elements, such as dropdown menus, and on the hardware side, with keyboard shortcuts. But as the system is described, it almost seems more like constant monitoring of workers to measure their efficiency.
After all, as already recalled, the very period when Menlo Park laid off the most in its history was dubbed by Zuckerberg himself the “year of efficiency” to underline the direction taken by Meta.
The company, however, denies wanting to spy on its workers by measuring their performance, reiterating that every piece of data will be used solely to feed the AI. However, in the background remains the question of the legality of such devices that monitor employees so thoroughly, step by step, making them feel the CEO’s breath on their neck. Or worse, the AI that might one day take their job.
