Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

Meta 员工可选择暂停工作追踪，每次最长 30 分钟

Meta is scaling back its plan to start tracking its employees’ computer activity, according to an internal memo sent on Tuesday. 根据周二发出的一份内部备忘录，Meta 正在缩减其追踪员工电脑活动的计划。

In April the company received criticism from its own staff after it announced a new tool would log their keystrokes and mouse clicks to train its AI models. 今年 4 月，该公司宣布将推出一款新工具，通过记录员工的键盘敲击和鼠标点击来训练其人工智能模型，此举遭到了员工的批评。

Now, according to Reuters, new controls will allow employees to pause the data collection for “up to 30 minutes at a time” as well as request exemptions from the initiative altogether. 据路透社报道，新的控制措施将允许员工“每次最多暂停 30 分钟”的数据收集，并可申请完全豁免参与该计划。

Meta declined to comment on the record. Meta 拒绝就此事发表正式评论。

It follows weeks of backlash from employees, including some who started a petition against the move which now has more than 1,500 signatures. During the initial announcement of the tool, called the Model Capability Initiative (MCI), Meta told the BBC: “If we’re building agents to help people complete everyday tasks using computers, our models need real examples of how people actually use them.” 在此之前，员工们进行了数周的抵制，包括发起了一项反对该举措的请愿活动，目前已有超过 1,500 人签名。在最初宣布这项名为“模型能力倡议”（MCI）的工具时，Meta 曾告诉 BBC：“如果我们正在构建帮助人们使用电脑完成日常任务的智能体，我们的模型就需要人们实际使用电脑的真实案例。”

It added that the data was “not used for any other purpose,” and the tool had “safeguards in place to protect sensitive content”. 该公司补充称，这些数据“不会用于任何其他目的”，且该工具“设有保护敏感内容的保障措施”。

But workers were not impressed, with one Meta employee, who asked not to be identified, telling the BBC that having their actions train AI models felt “very dystopian” - as workers expected a slew of additional job cuts. 但员工们并不买账。一位不愿透露姓名的 Meta 员工告诉 BBC，让他们的行为去训练 AI 模型感觉“非常反乌托邦”，因为员工们正预期公司会进行新一轮的裁员。

Meta has laid off around 2,000 employees this year. In April the company told employees it planned to cut 10% of its workforce - roughly 8,000 staff. Meta 今年已经裁员约 2,000 人。今年 4 月，该公司告知员工计划裁减 10% 的员工，即约 8,000 人。

Another person who recently left the company told the BBC the tracking tool was “just the latest way they’re shoving AI down everyone’s throat”. 另一位最近离职的员工告诉 BBC，这个追踪工具“只是他们强行向所有人灌输 AI 的最新手段”。

An internal memo - seen by Reuters - was reportedly authored by Stephane Kasriel, a vice president in Meta’s Superintelligence Labs unit. 据路透社看到的一份内部备忘录显示，该文件由 Meta 超级智能实验室部门副总裁 Stephane Kasriel 撰写。

In it, he said the team behind the MCI had introduced “several optimizations” to reduce its impact on laptop battery life. 他在备忘录中表示，MCI 团队已经引入了“多项优化措施”，以减少其对笔记本电脑电池寿命的影响。

This change came after reports that employees were finding the tool consumed so much data it was causing their internet usage to surge when working from home. 在此之前，有报道称员工发现该工具消耗了大量数据，导致他们在居家办公时互联网流量激增。

“While we remain confident in the privacy protections we put in place at launch, which went through several layers of risk review, we have heard your concerns about personal data on work devices, battery life, and wanting more control over when capturing happens,” Kasriel said in the memo. Kasriel 在备忘录中写道：“虽然我们对发布时实施的隐私保护措施充满信心，这些措施经过了多层风险审查，但我们也听到了你们对于工作设备上的个人数据、电池寿命以及希望对捕获时间拥有更多控制权的担忧。”