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Mark Zuckerberg\u2019s new initiative to track employee computer use<\/a> is tearing the company apart. In a sign that those simmering tensions are boiling over into open revolt, some workers are sending clear shots across the bow.<\/p>\n \u201cSelfishly, I don\u2019t want my screen scraped because it feels like an invasion of my privacy,\u201d an engineer wrote this week in an internal post seen by nearly 20,000 coworkers, Wired reported<\/a>. \u201cBut zooming out, I don\u2019t want to live in a world where humans \u2014 employees or otherwise \u2014 are exploited for their training data.\u201d<\/p>\n The initiative at the center of the debate, called the Model Capability Initiative, closely tracks employees\u2019 keyboard strokes, mouse data, and records their screens while using certain apps. Meta leadership claims that this data will be used to teach its AI models \u201chow people actually complete everyday tasks using computers,\u201d amid the industry\u2019s heavy push into AI agents that can perform tasks on your behalf. Despite half-hearted assurances from Meta chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth that the data would be \u201ctightly controlled,\u201d many employees see it as a blatant violation of their privacy<\/a> (and that\u2019s without even getting into Zuckerberg\u2019s own dismal history<\/a> with accessing users\u2019 private data.)<\/p>\n It comes at a time when morale at the company is at a nadir. As part of Zuckerberg\u2019s all-in AI push, Meta announced it would fire ten percent of its workforce, or nearly 8,000 employees, leaving many uncertain about their future. The company is also demanding that employees produce more than ever by using AI agents and coding tools as much as possible, with AI usage now a factor in performance reviews<\/a>.<\/p>\n The gloomy esprit de corps could easily turned into numb acceptance of Meta\u2019s AI regime, but the Model Capability Initiative clearly struck a nerve and has sparked open acts of mild defiance. Per Wired, a petition calling to end it has been circulating inside the company since last week. It states that \u201cit should not be the norm that companies of any size are permitted to exploit their employees by nonconsensually extracting their data for the purposes of Al training.\u201d Employees have been posting flyers in communal areas like cafeterias and in bathrooms that advertise the petition.<\/p>\n As such, the Meta engineer who called the data tracking initiative an \u201cinvasion of my privacy\u201d was summarizing the current sentiment brewing in the ranks.<\/p>\n \u201cLayoffs, budget cuts, years of efficiency and intensity \u2014 all of it contributed to a growing sense of dread,\u201d the employee wrote, per Wired. \u201cMCI is a microcosm for the Al movement,\u201d the engineer added. \u201cYes, it\u2019s just a small turn of the temperature knob, but it\u2019s representative of the types of systems that people will be compelled to build.\u201d<\/p>\n In some respects, these criticisms are tinged with irony. Of all the Big Tech companies, Meta\u2019s privacy track record is generally seen as the worst of the worst (two words: Cambridge Analytica<\/a>). For its employees to turn around now and be shocked that the surveillance boomerang has come back to hurt them, too, is a little rich. It could be a scales-falling-from-the-eyes moment, or it could be a blip in the corporate monolith\u2019s operations. Whatever happens, it\u2019s clear that Zuckerberg\u2019s is losing his grip on the rank and file.<\/p>\n