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Meta\u2019s controversial program that spied on its employees\u2019 computers has backfired spectacularly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Though its chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth assured that the data it collected would be \u201ctightly controlled,\u201d the company is now pausing the tracking program<\/a> after sensitive employee information was leaked internally, according to reports from Business Insider<\/a> and Wired<\/a>.<\/p>\n A security notice sent out Monday said that the exposed data included employee\u2019s full AI prompts and transcriptions, performance data, and even private conversations. The leak allowed the data to be accessible to any employee inside the company.<\/p>\n Meta said it\u2019s investigating the incident and confirmed it paused the program, but maintains it\u2019s keeping a lid on things.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have carefully designed this program with privacy safeguards, and while we have no indication at this time that any data was improperly accessed by Meta employees, we\u2019re pausing it while we investigate,\u201d a spokesperson told outlets.<\/p>\n The program, dubbed the Model Capability Initiative, was intended to gather data so Meta\u2019s AI models could learn \u201chow people actually complete everyday tasks using computers.\u201d Reports suggested it collected everything from employee keystrokes to recording their computer screens.\u00a0<\/p>\n When it was announced in April, it immediately sparked backlash in the workforce<\/a>, with internal posts openly denouncing the initiative as an invasion of privacy, and some employees circulating a petition calling to end it. It came while morale at the company was at a nadir, following fresh layoffs that forced out nearly 8,000 employees, and a heavy push from the top that workers should heavily use AI to produce as much code as possible.<\/p>\n Under CEO Mark Zuckerberg\u2019s directive, the company has doubled-down even further on developing automation tech, moving employees who were working elsewhere onto a new AI project, sowing further discontent<\/a>.<\/p>\n Reactions from employees about the leak were unequivocally critical.<\/p>\n \u201cI am incensed,\u201d one employee wrote Monday in an internal group, per a screenshot obtained by BI.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t see any evidence of malicious access, but the fact that this data wasn\u2019t locked down as originally promised is super frustrating,\u201d another complained.<\/p>\n Memes also abounded. In an internal forum, one employee posted an image of Jim Halpert from \u201cThe Office\u201d holding a sign that says, \u201c0 days since our last nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n Bosworth, Meta\u2019s CTO who promised that the collected data would be \u201ctightly controlled,\u201d responded to employees\u2019 posts by admitting that the initiative\u2019s implementation had fallen short of the standards set in its prevacy review, per Wired.<\/p>\n The company, however, is poised to resume the data tracking program once the issue is settled.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will only re-enable MCI when we are confident in the effectiveness of our data protection controls,\u201d Stephane Kasriel, a Meta vice president overseeing AI research, told employees Monday, according to Wired. Kasriel said the company discovered and resolved the issue last week, but that the\u00a0 initial fix didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not the only recent security blunder at Meta. In March, a rogue AI agent gave an employee advice that it wasn\u2019t authorized to share<\/a>, resulting in sensitive data being exposed and causing what was described as a critical security incident.<\/p>\n