Not the boss, AI becomes the job decider! META employees knocked on the door of the court
Meta AI Layoffs: Facebook’s parent company Meta is facing a big legal battle. 26 former employees have filed a federal lawsuit alleging the social media giant used biased, AI-based software to carry out mass layoffs. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in California, claims that the company’s internal systems unfairly targeted vulnerable employees. Citing employees who complained, news agency Reuters reported that the company relied heavily on automated performance metrics, including digital productivity tracking and personal AI tokens, during the mass layoffs. Employees also argue that the use of automated tracking harmed those who had to take leave for legitimate medical reasons. In fact he was punished for taking leave.
Former employees have alleged discrimination based on AI
This legal challenge comes after Meta’s steps to reduce expenses. The company had announced plans to cut its global workforce by 10%, due to which around 8,000 people have lost their jobs since May.
The 26 people suing are from six US states (including California, New York and the District of Columbia). He has accused Meta of violating federal and state labor laws. These laws strictly prohibit discrimination or retaliation against employees who have a disability, are pregnant, or have taken approved family and medical leave.
Meta’s counterattack: Decisions were taken by people, not AI
Meta has rejected these allegations. The company spokesperson said that these legal claims have no merit.
The spokesperson stressed that decisions related to workforce management and organization were and are still taken by people, not by AI. He denied that the final decisions related to layoffs are taken by automated algorithms.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that officials had misjudged the timing of the changes.
Last week, in an internal meeting of the company, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that the company’s large-scale restructuring efforts did not yield the expected results. According to a Reuters report, Zuckerberg said that the company’s AI agents did not progress as fast as expected and that top executives had miscalculated the timing of these changes. The restructuring announced earlier this year included laying off about 8,000 employees and redeploying another 7,000 to AI-focused teams.
During the meeting, Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth also addressed concerns related to the company’s controversial mouse-tracking software. The use of this software was stopped after reports of sensitive data being leaked. Bosworth said the review showed that no employee’s data was included in the AI training. He further said that it is a very good thing for those who feel comfortable, they can contribute in such an excellent human survey. For those who are not comfortable, this is not a problem.
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