Meta rolls out AI employee keyboard-tracking training during layoffs amid a wave of job cuts

On April 21, Meta announced it will install a new tracking tool called the “Model Capability Initiative” (MCI) on the computers of employees in the United States. The tool captures employees’ mouse movements, clicks, keyboard input, and periodic screenshots of their work screens, for training AI agent models capable of independently carrying out work tasks. The move comes amid Meta’s backdrop of having laid off about 2,000 employees this year and has sparked strong reactions from employees.

MCI Tracking Tool: What It Monitors and Why

According to an internal memo seen by Reuters, the MCI tool will run on work-related applications and websites, recording employees’ keyboard input, mouse movements, and clicks, and periodically capturing screen snapshots. A Meta spokesperson explained: “If we’re building AI agents to help people use computers to complete everyday tasks, then our models need real examples of how people actually use them.”

Meta said the data would not be used for any other purpose, and the tool includes security measures to protect sensitive content. The BBC noted that employees’ activity on Meta computers could be accessed by the company in the past, but systematic tracking and recording specifically for training and improving AI tools is a new approach.

Employee Reactions: “Very Orwellian”

Employee reactions were largely negative, especially in the context of layoffs. An employee who asked not to be named told the BBC that even the “minimum actions” employees take on their computers are used to train AI models, and that there are also plans for a large number of additional layoffs—something that feels “very Orwellian.” “The company is already obsessed with artificial intelligence,” he said.

Another person who recently left Meta said the tracking tool is “just their latest way of forcing everyone to accept artificial intelligence.” Meta’s job postings also fell sharply from roughly 800 in March this year to just 7 currently remaining. A Meta spokesperson declined to comment on the layoff plans.

Background: Meta’s $140B AI Bet in 2026

The launch of this tracking tool is part of Meta’s large-scale AI investment plan. Meta plans to spend about $140 billion on artificial intelligence in 2026, nearly double its investment a year earlier. In 2025, Meta acquired nearly half of Scale AI for $14 billion and brought in its executives to accelerate AI model development. Last month, the Meta Superintelligence Labs team rolled out its first major product: the AI model Muse Spark. In January this year, Zuckerberg said that 2026 will be “the year when AI completely changes the way we operate.”

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Meta’s MCI tracking tool infringe on employees’ privacy?

Meta says the data will not be used for any purpose other than AI training, and that it has security measures in place to protect sensitive content. However, critics argue that systematically recording every keyboard input and mouse movement goes beyond normal workplace monitoring and raises broad concerns about workers’ privacy rights from both legal and ethical perspectives.

What is the primary purpose of Meta collecting employees’ operating data?

Meta’s goal is to train AI agents that can independently carry out work tasks on a computer. These agents require a large amount of real human operational demonstration data, and employees’ everyday work actions provide the closest training material to a real environment—covering how to use software, handle workflows, and so on.

How might this monitoring initiative affect Meta’s corporate culture?

The move comes at a time when Meta has already laid off about 2,000 employees and hiring is nearing a freeze, deepening employees’ anxieties about job security. Some employees interpret it as another signal that Meta intends to replace human labor with AI—even if layoffs have not yet happened, everyday work has already become raw material for training the replacements of the future.