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After Layoffs, Meta Is Training AI on Its Own Workers
The Downgrading of the American Tech Worker Meta is laying off more staff — and monitoring the rest to train AI. By John Herrman, a tech columnist at Intelligencer Formerly, he was a reporter and critic at the New York Times and co-editor of The Awl. Photo: Intelligencer; Photo: Getty Images Photo: Intelligencer; Photo: Getty Images Everyone in tech is worried about layoffs. Since the beginning of the year, Block (formerly Square) cut its workforce nearly in half, Oracle began laying off up to 30,000 people, Amazon announced yet another reduction in force, Snap laid off around 15 percent of its staff, and Pinterest announced plans to do about the same thing. Microsoft recently announced its first-ever voluntary buyouts, targeting longtime employees, which some are reading as a prelude to deep cuts. Most of the firms are paring down workforces that grew enormously while interest rates were low. But all of them have at least something to do with AI. Some firms, like Oracle and Microsoft, are reallocating capital to massive investments in the technology. Block’s leadership says it believes it can now run its firm with far fewer people, while Snap, in a more urgent cost-cutting mode, signaled that automation may save money. Job loss is the dominant fear as announcements pile up and employees absorb warnings about mass displacement from AI leaders like Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. But two recent changes at Meta highlight another question: What does all this mean for the people who are left? The first, of course, is a layoff, which Meta characterized as part of a “continued effort to run the company more efficiently and to allow us to offset the other investments we’re making.” The firm has spent — often haphazardly — more than $70 billion developing AI so far, with plans to spend more in the coming year (in addition to spending a lot of its cash on AI and freeing up more through layoffs, the company has been selling tens of billions in bonds). The second change came just before the layoffs and was reported first by Reuters: Meta is installing new tracking software on U.S.-based employees’ computers to capture mouse movements, clicks and keystrokes for use in training its artificial intelligence models, part of a broad initiative to build AI agents that can perform work tasks autonomously, the company told staffers. “The vision we are building towards is one where our agents primarily do the work and our role is to direct, review and help them improve...
Meta Monitors Employees for AI Training Amid Major Layoffs
News Meta Monitors Employees for AI Training Amid Major Layoffs Meta is under scrutiny for implementing a system that records employee actions to train AI agents, coinciding with plans to lay off 8,000 workers. The Model Capability Initiative (MCI) logs mouse movements, clicks, and keystrokes without opt-out options, as revealed by internal memos. This data collection aims to enhance AI's ability to autonomously perform tasks, transforming employee workflows into training data. The layoffs, set to begin on May 20, will affect approximately 10% of Meta's workforce. The company is shifting towards a model where AI agents handle most tasks, with humans overseeing and refining their work. This shift is part of a broader trend in the tech industry, with companies like Amazon and Salesforce also announcing significant job cuts. Meta assures that MCI data will not be used for performance evaluations, focusing solely on AI model training. Source: Show Original Disclaimer: The content provided on Phemex News is for informational purposes only. We do not guarantee the quality, accuracy, or completeness of the information sourced from third-party articles. The content on this page does not constitute financial or investment advice. We strongly encourage you to conduct you own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
Meta to cut 10% of staff as it pours billions into AI | CNN Business
Meta said on Thursday it plans to lay off roughly 10% of its workforce, or about 8,000 people, the latest in a string of tech industry layoffs fueled in part by artificial intelligence.
Meta set to layoff 10% of its staff as it pushes for AI - USA TODAY
Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, is set to lay off 10% of its global workforce as the company refocuses on artificial intelligence, according to an internal memo shared with employees ...
