Key facts
- Engineers within Meta's Applied AI unit describe their work as "soul-crushing" and compare the unit to a "gulag."
- The unit, formed three months ago, consists of approximately 6,500 engineers and product managers.
- Employees were reportedly moved into the unit unexpectedly and without choice, with options to join or quit.
- The work involves generating puzzles and coding problems to train AI models.
- Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that average employees were chosen over contractors for their higher intelligence.
- A significant number of employees company-wide are protesting a program that monitors their activity for AI training data.
Engineers within Meta's newly formed Applied AI unit are expressing significant discontent, describing their work as "soul-crushing" and the unit itself as a "gulag." The unit, established approximately three months ago, comprises around 6,500 engineers and product managers tasked with supporting Meta's AI research ambitions.
Reports indicate that many employees were moved into this unit unexpectedly via surprise emails, with little choice but to join or face potential termination. CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly justified this approach by stating that Meta employees possess higher intelligence than third-party contractors, making them better suited for the data-labeling tasks required to train AI models. These tasks involve generating puzzles and coding problems.
The discontent extends beyond the Applied AI group, with over 1,600 employees company-wide signing a petition against a program that monitors their digital activity for AI training data. Meta's chief product officer, Chris Cox, has acknowledged the "brutal" environment, and Zuckerberg has reportedly admitted in an internal memo that recent changes have caused "distress" and that the company plans to address mistakes.
The Applied AI team is reportedly led by Maher Saba, a long-time Meta executive, and reports to CTO Andrew Bosworth. Initially, the unit had a top-heavy structure with up to 50 employees reporting to a single manager.