Meta halts worker tracking for AI training due to privacy fears

Ah, the company that promised us a 'privacy-first' vision while cheerfully harvesting every byte of personal data has now been caught red-handed tracking its own employees. Meta has paused a program that monitored worker movements to train AI models, but only after nearly 2,000 staff — enough to fill a small arena — signed a petition demanding it be cancelled. Yes, the same Meta that wants to build an AI that understands human behaviour found that its own workforce wasn't thrilled about being treated as training data with legs.

The program, presumably using badge swipes or office beacons, mapped employee trajectories to feed Meta's spatial AI ambitions. Because what could possibly go wrong when the company with a glittering record on privacy scandals — remember Cambridge Analytica? — gets to model your exact office movements? The petition organisers called the program 'invasive' and 'without consent,' which in Meta-speak probably translates to 'we need a better opt-out page.' Still, credit where due: the pause shows that even Zuck's empire can be shamed into a halt by a determined handful of employees with a Google Form.

But let's not pop the champagne just yet. This is a pause, not a cancellation. Meta says it's 'reviewing the program in light of employee feedback,' which is corporate for 'we'll relaunch it with a softer name and a trusty checkbox.' The almost 2,000 signatories have merely delayed the inevitable moment when every coffee break and bathroom trip becomes a data point for the next generation of Meta's AI. Privacy: the final frontier — and apparently the one inside your own office.