Overview
- A leaked internal memo obtained Thursday says Meta will let employees pause the Model Capability Initiative tracking tool for up to 30 minutes at a time and allow staff to request exemptions.
- Stephane Kasriel, vice president in Meta’s Superintelligence Labs, wrote that the company remains confident in its privacy protections while acknowledging concerns about personal data, battery life and control over when capturing happens.
- More than 1,500 employees signed a petition opposing the program, with some calling the software dystopian and describing it as extracting worker-created data without fair compensation.
- Labor and privacy experts warn the screen‑capture and keystroke collection could capture personal information, raise consent questions and highlight gaps in U.S. workplace data protections compared with other countries.
- The controversy adds to wider tensions at Meta over AI restructuring and layoff plans and could fuel further worker organizing, legal scrutiny and demands for clearer rules on how employee activity is used to train AI.