Meta’s months-old AI unit is a soul-crushing gulag, say the engineers stuck inside it

Reports emerging from Meta indicate escalating frustration within the company's Applied AI division, as workers express concerns over their working conditions and the nature of their assignments. The turmoil comes in the wake of significant layoffs, with hundreds of employees feeling the pressure as Meta reallocates resources towards its AI initiatives. Tensions reached a boiling point recently when an employee disrupted a private, streamed presentation with a heated outburst, demanding accountability from a senior executive. This incident highlights the growing dissatisfaction among the roughly 6,500 engineers and product managers tasked with advancing Meta's AI research. Many employees feel coerced into this new group, referring to themselves as 'draftees' with little choice but to participate or leave the company. Their primary responsibilities involve generating puzzles and coding challenges intended to train AI models, a task many find demoralizing. One employee described the environment as akin to a 'gulag,' emphasizing the emotional toll the work has taken. In addition to the discontent over job roles, over 1,600 Meta employees have signed a petition against a controversial monitoring program that tracks their clicks and keystrokes for AI data collection. Even Chris Cox, Meta's chief product officer, characterized the atmosphere as 'brutal' during a recent employee call. The Applied AI team operates under the leadership of Maher Saba, who previously oversaw projects in Meta’s Reality Labs, and now reports to CTO Andrew Bosworth. Changes in the team's structure have raised concerns, with reports suggesting that up to 50 employees were once managed by a single supervisor. CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged in an internal memo that the recent adjustments have caused distress among staff, admitting that mistakes have been made and promising to address the issues. He reiterated Meta's aspiration to be an attractive workplace for top talent, aiming for a positive impact in the tech world.