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Meta will track employee activity on work devices using a tool that records keystrokes, mouse movements and screen content to train AI models. Rolled out to US staff, the system cannot be opted out of, triggering backlash over surveillance, privacy concerns and fears that such data could eventually be used to replace workers.

Mark Zuckerberg's Meta has announced that it is installing tracking software on the work computers of its US-based staff, recording how they use everyday software applications, and workers have no option to refuse it. The move has triggered internal backlash and raised serious questions about workplace surveillance, worker autonomy, and the ethics of using employees to build the very technology that may eventually replace them.

According to Reuters, Meta will track and record mouse movements, keystrokes, and on-screen activity to create AI training data. The tool, called Model Capability Initiative (MCI), logs mouse movements, click locations, and keystrokes. It also monitors how workers navigate software, including keyboard shortcuts and dropdown menus, and takes periodic screenshots or 'screen content' to give the AI context for what is happening on screen.

Staff will see a pop-up on their work laptop asking them to enable the tool, which then runs on a pre-approved list of work-related apps and websites such as Gmail, Google Chat, Metamate, Meta's internal AI assistant, and development tools like VS Code.

The intent, as Meta frames it, is straightforward. "If we're building agents to help people complete everyday tasks using computers, our models need real examples of how people actually use them things like mouse movements, clicking buttons, and navigating dropdown menus. To help, we're launching an internal tool that will capture these kinds of inputs on certain applications to help us train our models," a Meta spokesperson said.