Meta’s Applied AI unit of 6,500 engineers faces revolt after a livestream meltdown and forced transfers, with over 1,600 employees petitioning against click-and-keystroke monitoring. CEO Zuckerberg acknowledged “distress” in an internal memo and vowed to address “mistakes” in the brutal environment.
Meta consolidated roughly 6,500 engineers and product managers into a months-old Applied AI unit tasked with generating puzzles and coding problems to train AI models under a structure that assigned up to 50 employees per manager.
A livestreamed employee presentation was hijacked by an expletive-laden outburst as staff decried forced transfers and soul-crushing work, prompting more than 1,600 Meta employees company-wide to petition against click-and-keystroke monitoring for AI training.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg issued an internal memo acknowledging the distress caused by recent reorganizations, admitted mistakes in execution and promised reforms to improve the work environment and retain top talent.
