Judge won’t block Meta from axing workers who filed AI discrimination lawsuit - New York Post

Ah, Meta's famous 'move fast and break things' ethos has found a fresh application: breaking people's livelihoods with the aid of AI. A federal judge has rejected 26 employees' bid to block their layoffs while they pursue a discrimination lawsuit claiming Meta's AI-powered tools specifically targeted workers with disabilities or those taking medical leave. The axe falls on July 22 — plenty of time for the algorithm to learn a few more biases before then.

One has to admire the symmetry: Meta deploys AI to optimise workforce reduction, the employees claim the AI is discriminatory, and the judge's response is essentially 'let the market decide' — or rather, let Mark decide. The company, naturally, insists its tools are fair and compliant. Because nothing says 'fair' like an AI that reads your medical leave as a signal for termination. This is the logical endpoint of HR by stochastic parrot: plausible-sounding decisions with zero accountability.

And where are the regulators? The EEOC is reportedly investigating, but that's cold comfort to the 26 being shown the door next week. The law, as interpreted by this judge, doesn't see enough 'irreparable harm' in losing your job over an alleged AI bias. So we're left with a delightful precedent: if an algorithm decides you're surplus, you can't even get a stay of execution while you argue the algorithm was a bigot. Progress!