Meta accused of using AI to target workers on medical leave in bloodbath layoffs: lawsuit

Meta is facing a lawsuit from 26 employees accusing the tech giant of using AI-powered software that disproportionately selected workers with disabilities and those who took medical leave to be impacted in a round of layoffs earlier this year.

The company allegedly used an internal bot known as “Metamate;” “second-brain” agents that were trained by workers; AI-usage dashboards; and keystroke and computer activity data to root out unproductive workers, according to the suit filed Monday in Oakland, Calif., federal court.

But this tech failed to account for workers who were out on valid medical leave – and “in effect penalized the employees for exercising their legal rights to these leaves,” according to the suit.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is being sued for allegedly using discriminatory AI systems in its layoffs this year. AP Photo/Alex Brandon

A Meta spokesperson denied the claims in the suit, saying they lack merit.

“Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI,” a Meta spokesperson told The Post.

Reuters earlier reported the case.

It’s seemingly the first lawsuit targeting a major company for allegedly using AI in carrying out layoffs.

In May, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta kicked off a bloodbath round of 8,000 job cuts – nearly 10% of its global workforce and among the largest layoff rounds in its history – as it ramped up its AI investment plans. Another 7,000 staffers were also reassigned to AI-focused roles.

The 26 plaintiffs – a group of anonymous Meta managers, engineers, scientists and researchers from California, New York and Washington, DC – are asking the court to block Meta from completing the layoffs while they arbitrate their workplace disputes individually.

The suit alleged Meta ranked employees on a termination list using data from keystrokes, screen content, emails and ​browser history – effectively tanking the ratings for employees who had been out on leave and logging fewer hours.

Meta’s layoff practices violated federal and state laws that ban discrimination or retaliation against workers with disabilities and those who take medical leave or are pregnant, according to the suit.

Meta denied the claims in the lawsuit. Askar – stock.adobe.com

Plaintiffs also alleged Meta did not test its AI systems for bias, which would violate new legislation in California and New York City.

In the spring, Meta leadership said the layoffs were an attempt to boost the firm’s efficiency as it ramped up spending on artificial intelligence.

So far this year, nearly a third of all job cuts have hit the tech sector – and AI came in as the leading reason for announced layoffs in June for the fourth month in a row, Challenger, Gray & Christmas said in a report earlier this month.

Meta has said it plans to spend $125 billion to $145 billion this year alone on AI infrastructure, including power-hungry data centers – and the chips needed to power them.

A huge boost in demand has caused severe memory-chip shortages, sending costs skyrocketing. Tech giants like Apple and Xbox have hiked prices on their gadgets, blaming the higher component costs.

In the meantime, investors have grown concerned that huge spending on AI might not result in blowout earnings – creating an “AI bubble” akin to the “dot-com bubble” of the early 2000s.