'Dystopian!' Workers' clicks and keystrokes set to be monitored to train AI that could replace them

Fintan Starkey
Wed, 22 Apr 2026 15:31:04 +0000

Workers are set to have their clicks and keystrokes monitored to train artificial intelligence that could replace them, thanks to new software unveiled by Meta.

The Facebook and Instagram parent company informed staff on Tuesday about the initiative, known as Model Capability Initiative (MCI), which will log activity across Meta's computers and internal applications.

A company spokesman revealed: "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," they added, saying the system had "safeguards in place to protect sensitive content".

TRENDING

Stories

Videos

Your Say

The monitoring programme has sparked unease among staff, with one employee who requested anonymity telling the BBC having their minutest computer actions harvested for AI training while bracing for further redundancies feels "very dystopian".

"This company has become obsessed with AI," they said.

A former employee characterised the tracking tool as "just the latest way they're shoving AI down everyone's throat".

The workforce anxiety comes as Meta has already cut approximately 2,000 jobs this year through successive rounds of redundancies, with deeper losses anticipated in coming months.

A partial recruitment freeze implemented last month appears increasingly extensive.

A website that Meta uses to hire has plummeted from roughly 800 vacancies in March to merely seven currently.

Meta's spokesman declined to comment on the company's removal of job listings or plans for cuts.

The technology giant is channelling enormous resources into AI, with plans to invest approximately £106billion in the technology during 2026, nearly doubling its expenditure from the previous year.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

Claude Mythos is an AI that's SO good at hacking, its creators have been forced to lock it away

AI expert issues dire warning after meeting Princess Anne at royal residence

Labour blows MILLIONS in taxpayers' cash amid delays to one of Britain's largest building projects, damning report reveals

Last year, Meta acquired a substantial stake in Scale AI through a £10.5billion investment, simultaneously recruiting executives from the data-labelling company to bolster its AI development capabilities.

The firm's revamped Meta Superintelligence Labs division delivered its first major product last month with the release of Muse Spark, an AI model.

Meta intends to utilise the employee activity data gathered through MCI to develop new AI models emerging from this research unit.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's chief executive and co-founder, has signalled that artificial intelligence will fundamentally reshape professional life in the near future.

In January, he declared 2026 will be "the year that AI dramatically changes the way we work".

The billionaire pointed to evidence productivity gains are already materialising within his organisation.

"We're starting to see projects that used to take big teams now be accomplished by a single, very talented person," he said at the time.

Mr Zuckerberg has committed to accelerating AI investment this year as he seeks to establish Meta as a leader in the rapidly evolving technology sector.