Meta employees are growing concerned after the company announced plans to install detailed work behavior tracking tools that monitor mouse movements and keystrokes to gather data for AI training, amid ongoing fears of a new wave of layoffs.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has informed employees it will begin using a new tool on company computers and internal apps to record all employee activities, including mouse clicks and keyboard presses, aiming to use this data as "training data" to develop artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
A Meta spokesperson said, "To build tools that truly help people with daily tasks, our models need to see real examples of how humans use computers." They confirmed that this data will be used solely for AI development and emphasized that there are stringent protections for sensitive information.
However, this move has raised significant concerns among employees. One anonymous employee said that being monitored even down to finger movements amid rumors of layoffs feels like living in a "dystopian world," a harsh and tightly controlled society, and viewed the company as overly obsessed with AI.
Moreover, the tool, called the Model Capability Initiative (MCI), is seen as the latest effort to embed AI into every aspect of work. Although the company previously had access to work data, collecting records specifically for AI training represents a worrying new step.
Internal tensions at Meta are rising after about 2,000 employees were laid off this year and hiring freezes were imposed on many roles. Job postings on Meta's website have plummeted dramatically from 800 positions in March to just seven currently.
Conversely, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a massive increase in the AI budget, with plans to spend up to 140 billion dollars on AI in 2026—nearly double the amount spent last year.
In 2025, the company acquired nearly half of Scale AI by investing 14 billion dollars to strengthen data management. Additionally, Meta aims to continuously develop new models following the recent launch of Muse Spark last month.
Mark Zuckerberg stated earlier this year that 2026 will be a breakthrough year for AI transforming work, where projects that once required large teams can be completed by a single skilled person working alongside intelligent AI.
/sourceBBC