Meta to track workers' clicks and keystrokes to train AI
Source: BBC Technology
Meta will start tracking the way employees work, including their keystrokes and mouse clicks, to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models.
What the tool does
Meta’s new tracking tool, called Model Capability Initiative (MCI), will run on the company’s computers and internal apps, logging user activity to be used as training data for AI technology.
A Meta spokesperson told the BBC:
“If we’re building agents to help people complete everyday tasks using computers, our models need real examples of how people actually use them. The data is not used for any other purpose.”
The spokesperson added that the tool has “safeguards in place to protect sensitive content.”
Employee reactions
- One employee, who asked to remain anonymous, described the monitoring of “the smallest actions on a computer” as “very dystopian,” especially amid expectations of further job cuts.
- A former employee said the tracking tool is “just the latest way they’re shoving AI down everyone’s throat.”
Context within Meta’s restructuring
- Meta has already laid off around 2,000 employees this year in several rounds of cuts, and staff anticipate deeper reductions.
- A partial hiring freeze was introduced last month and appears to be more extensive now. In March, Meta’s job portal listed about 800 openings; it now shows only seven.
- The company’s spokesperson declined to comment on the removal of job listings or future layoff plans.
Investment in AI
- Meta plans to spend roughly $140 bn on AI in 2026, nearly double the amount invested a year earlier.
- In 2025, Meta acquired nearly half of Scale AI for $14 bn (£10.3 bn) and integrated some of the data‑labeling firm’s executives to bolster its AI development.
- The first major product from the restructured Meta Superintelligence Labs was the AI model Muse Spark, launched last month.
Future outlook
- With data gathered from the employee tracker, Meta aims to train new AI models within its lab.
- In January, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said 2026 would be “the year that AI dramatically changes the way we work,” noting that projects once requiring large teams could now be handled by a single, highly skilled individual.
“We’re starting to see projects that used to take big teams now be accomplished by a single, very talented person.” – Mark Zuckerberg, January 2024
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