Magnificent irony as Meta staff unhappy about running surveillance software on work PCs
Zuck reportedly needs to capture workers’ keystrokes to build AI
Meta, the company built on watching everything its billions of users do online so it can keep them clicking on ragebait and targeted ads, is reportedly now installing surveillance software on employees’ work computers.
Newswire Reuters reports that Meta management sent staff a memo informing them that they’ll soon run a new tool called “Model Capability Initiative” that will record their keystrokes, mouse movements, and even take occasional screenshots – all in the name of gathering data the social networking giant can use to build better AI models.
Business Insider claims it’s got the memo, which apparently says surveillance will observe workers as they use “work-related applications and URLs” including Gmail, GChat, VCCode, and an internal app called “Metamate”.
The document reportedly explains that Meta feels AI models don’t understand how people use computers, so the company needs real-life examples of how meatbags click their way through a working day so it can build agents. CTO Andrew Bosworth apparently said collecting this data from Meta staff will help the company to realize a vision for a world “where our agents primarily do the work and our role is to direct, review and help them improve.”
Meta is not alone in pursuing such a vision: Anthropic debuted tech capable of doing this in 2024 and OpenAI last year announced “Operator” – a tool that can use a web browser on a human’s behalf.
Microsoft has even created a special type of cloud PC for agents to use.
All imagine that in the not-too-distant future many of us will designate some tasks that we currently undertake with our own brains and fingers on a physical PC to an agent that uses a virtual PC. AI folk imagine asking an agent to book an airfare, respond to email, or constantly scan e-tail sites to spot a discount for a desired item and then swoop in to make a purchase.
Meta’s term for this sort of thing is a “personal superintelligence” that CEO-for-life Mark Zuckerberg says “helps you achieve your goals, create what you want to see in the world, experience any adventure, be a better friend to those you care about, and grow to become the person you aspire to be.”
So long as your goals and aspirations don’t include workplace privacy.
This situation is replete with irony, given Meta has for years mined its users for information and often run afoul of privacy laws.
Now the company’s remaining staff can get a taste of the unease users have felt for years. ®
