Meta Tracks Employee Activity to Train AI, Staff Complain of Dystopian Atmosphere
META, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has started implementing a controversial policy by tracking employees’ work activities in detail. The company will record every keystroke and mouse click by staff to train their latest artificial intelligence (AI) models.
This policy was communicated to employees on Tuesday (21 April 2026). The new tracking tool, named Model Capability Initiative (MCI), will run on company computers and internal applications to collect data for training AI technology.
A Meta spokesperson stated that this step is necessary to create digital assistants capable of helping humans with everyday computer tasks.
“If we are building agents to help people accomplish everyday tasks using computers, our models need real examples of how people actually use them,” the Meta spokesperson told the BBC.
The company claims the data will not be used for other purposes and includes “protections to safeguard sensitive content”. Although Meta previously had access to employee computer activities, using the data specifically for AI training represents a massive new step.
This move has triggered anxiety internally. An anonymous Meta employee described the policy as deeply gloomy amid ongoing workforce reduction issues.
“The company has become obsessed with AI. Using even the smallest actions on the computer to train AI models while workers expect another round of job cuts, it feels very dystopian,” they said.
Meta has laid off around 2,000 employees this year. Signals of further workforce reductions are growing stronger following the announcement of a hiring freeze. In March, Meta’s job listings site recorded 800 positions, but now only seven vacancies are advertised.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has committed to massively increasing spending on AI projects. In 2026, Meta plans to allocate around $140 billion for AI, nearly double last year’s investment.
Zuckerberg previously stated that 2026 would be the year AI dramatically changes the way work is done.
“We are starting to see projects that used to require large teams now being completed by one very talented person,” Zuckerberg said in January.
The data collected from the employee activity tracker is expected to strengthen Meta’s new AI models from the Meta Superintelligence Labs group, following the launch of the Muse Spark model last month. (BBC/Z-2)