Meta to start capturing employee mouse movements, keystrokes for AI training data

6 months ago by Lee Duna to c/technology

Meta is installing new tracking software on U.S.-based employees’ computers to capture mouse movements, clicks and keystrokes for use in training its artificial intelligence models, part of a broad initiative to build AI agents ‌that can perform work tasks autonomously, the company told staffers in internal memos seen by Reuters.

Vanth 87 points 6 months ago

They weren't already?

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PabloSexcrowbar 47 points 6 months ago

As far as I could tell, they weren't when I worked there. Then again, I was the only person I knew who had a Linux workstation, and one running Wayland at that, so it may have been present on the Mac and Windows machines and I just never knew about it.

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Lucidlethargy -8 points 6 months ago

Oh wow... LINUX! And Wayland, you say?? Gosh... So nice.

So, tell us, did you run security onion as well?

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PabloSexcrowbar 3 points 6 months ago

At the time, Wayland lacked the capacity to even pass keystrokes from one application to another, let alone track mouse movements. I'm sure everything else was tracked, but mouse activity was not something they were capable of watching.

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rezifon 5 points 6 months ago

Security Through Inability

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valar 17 points 6 months ago

Oh they were, but now it's going to less secret

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CosmoNova 17 points 6 months ago

Probably a way to encourage them to quit. No doubt they did it before. They probably just made the announcement to put unnecessary stress on employees.

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Prove_your_argument 56 points 6 months ago

Just when you thought it couldn't get worse, now they will literally have performance metrics for all employees. Prepare to see non-executive white collar jobs turn into minimum wage slogfests where you're pruned if even 10% of your time is idle.

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zewm 26 points 6 months ago

Hehe that’s funny you think this is performance metrics and not just training AI agents to do the work without having to pay a human.

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foenix 25 points 6 months ago

¿por qué no los dos?

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mrgoosmoos 4 points 6 months ago

well they won't literally have performance metrics. they'll have data that they will use as performance metrics. important distinction

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partial_accumen 39 points 6 months ago

Here's a sneak peek into a management review meeting in the near future:

"Why is our AI browsing porn in the middle of the workday and constantly writing 'It fucking sucks ass here' in corporate documents?"

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WanderingThoughts 14 points 6 months ago

Or just making superfluous to do lists and ridiculously long reports on its activities because it needs to get the clicks in.

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Onyxonblack 29 points 6 months ago

Seriously, why would anyone that isn't a far-right fascist even work there anymore?

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ayyy 22 points 6 months ago

Before my buddy got laid off there they were making $200k/yr plus stock to work remote about 10hrs/week. I kinda understand why they were willing to compromise their morals.

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TwodogsFighting 3 points 6 months ago

Fuck, I'd draw random dick movements with my mouse for that kind of money.

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AlecSadler 1 point 6 months ago

That seems like low pay for Meta though?

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ohshit604 1 point 6 months ago

Hell that could just be the entry level position for all we know.

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AbidanYre 15 points 6 months ago

I've heard they pay really well.

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Malyca 5 points 6 months ago

Their turnover is questionable

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magnue 9 points 6 months ago

People just make their buck and get out. From my experience the way it's run is just moronic. Micromanagement and lies.

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LogicOverFeelings 28 points 6 months ago

I wasn't understanding what use keystrokes and mouse-clicks would have without also capturing what's happening on screen. Turn out, they are also capturing that:

The tool, called Model Capability Initiative (MCI), will run on work-related apps and websites and will also take occasional snapshots of the content on employees’ screens

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AlecSadler 6 points 6 months ago

FWIW, a lot of websites do pretty much the same thing. It isn't too hard and, for the most part, doesn't require user permission.

It does if you want full screenshot / video recording, but it doesn't if you just track mouse movements and what is typed and virtually recreate the DOM.

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LogicOverFeelings 1 point 6 months ago

Interesting, I didn't consider they could do it this way, but it make perfect sense. Thanks for bringing this up.

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KulunkelBoom 22 points 6 months ago

Great. Now everyone will be making quirky mouse movements and clicking at nothing - adding these motions into the database. And the first wave of replacement robots (programs) will slow down live interface to a standstill as the humans are retired and the bots take charge. And the "modern world" will return ever closer to the dark ages.

Wait ??!

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null 22 points 6 months ago

This is exactly why I never bought one of their headsets and why their VR division was doomed to fail. They want to do this kind of stuff with your head tracking data.

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EndlessNightmare 11 points 6 months ago

VR could have been something cool, but I'm steering clear of it..

Also, the lack of standards doesn't help. I won't buy a VR until they have a common standard the way that monitors do. Yes, I know it might be a very long wait.

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ayyy 8 points 6 months ago

I guess it’s not technically a standard but Steam VR runs on every client OS and streams to any VR headset money can buy over USB or network.

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FauxLiving 8 points 6 months ago

I guess it’s not technically a standard but Steam VR runs on every client OS and streams to any VR headset money can buy over USB or network.

And, to add to this, Valve is about to launch their next gen VR headset.

VR's major barrier is that to do good, AAA game level, VR you need a pretty beefy PC on top of an expensive headset AND a large enough room to take advantage of the roomscale stuff. That isn't to say that there isn't fun games that have low requirements, like Beat Saber and Superhot but for games like Half Life: Alyx you're looking at several thousand USD in hardware.

I think VR will eventually get there, it offers experiences that you can't get from a monitor, but right now it's a niche hobby with a pretty limited library of good titles.

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Killer_Tree 2 points 6 months ago

Walkabout Mini Golf from Mighty Coconut is the only VR game I play anymore. Most of the courses demonstrate that you don't need fancy graphics if you have good aesthetics!

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FauxLiving 10 points 6 months ago

They want to do this kind of stuff with your head tracking data.

The newer headsets can do eye tracking/gaze estimation. Useful for some VR things (foveated rendering) but I wouldn't trust Meta to leave the data on the headset.

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SethTaylor 18 points 6 months ago

Draw a dick with your cursor every 5 minutes

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usernameunnecessary 16 points 6 months ago

I'm pretty sure the EU won't let them pull this off with their EU employees. And the US will do absolutely nothing to protect their citizens that are employees of Meta. Disgusting behaviour from Meta, there's absolutely no bottom for them.

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Rekall_Incorporated 9 points 6 months ago

This is nothing compared to their enablement of the Rohingya genocide. In terms of less horrific, but still impactful crimes their recent premeditated promotion of scams to gain revenue on commissions ($16 B in a year) is also worth mentioning.

But the enablement of the Rohingya genocide really does make one wonder if exceptions need to be made with respect to state use of capital punishment (which I generally do not support, but I can see the need for exceptions such high treason during war and crimes against humanity).

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4grams 16 points 6 months ago

With how fucking slow windows has gotten on my work PC with all the copilot bullshit, I’m pretty sure MS is doing the same thing. No proof, just a painfully slow machine after getting all the AI updates..

I hate having that machine in my house, on my network.

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anon_8675309 2 points 6 months ago

VLAN?

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4grams 1 point 6 months ago

yes, work in progress actually..

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Malyca 16 points 6 months ago