New limits come following strong employee backlash
Meta is scaling back the implementation of its employee tracking software following strong backlash from its workforce, according to reports.
The tracking software, announced earlier this year, was intended to collect the mouse movements, clicks, and keystrokes of employees in the United States in order to train the tech giant's artificial intelligence models.
But new limits are being introduced to the tracking scheme, according to an internal memo from Stephane Kasriel, a vice president in Meta's AI model-building Superintelligence Labs unit, which was reported by Reuters.
Kasriel announced in the memo that employees would be allowed to pause data collection for up to 30 minutes and to request exemptions from the scheme.
"Several optimisations" are also being introduced in order to minimise the scheme's impact on computer battery life, according to the vice president.
"While we remain confident in the privacy protections we put in place at launch, which went through several layers of risk review, we have heard your concerns about personal data on work devices, battery life, and wanting more control over when capturing happens," Kasriel said as quoted by Reuters.
Backlash against tracking scheme
The changes came after backlash from employees who called out the plan's impact on privacy and home internet usage.
One employee told the BBC that the scheme felt "very dystopian."
"This company has become obsessed with AI," the employee told the news outlet.
In a CNBC article, multiple employees were reportedly concerned about the scheme exposing sensitive data, including passwords, new product developments, and workers' personal information.
A spokesperson from Meta previously told CNBC that the internal tool was secure, and was aimed at capturing "real examples" of how employees use computers in order to train their AI agents.
"There are safeguards in place to protect sensitive content, and the data is not used for any other purpose," the spokesperson told the news outlet.
