Business

Meta Purged Employees With Disabilities and Medical Leave Using AI, Dozens Claim

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A lawsuit claims artificial intelligence helped put disabled Meta workers on the chopping block during the company’s recent mass layoffs.

Meta’s AI-assisted termination ranking systems allegedly penalized those who missed work for health reasons, according to a lawsuit filed Monday, Reuters reported. Twenty-six anonymous plaintiffs claim Meta violated discrimination laws meant to shield disabled employees and failed to test its AI tools for bias.

“These claims lack merit and are not based on facts. Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by ​people, not AI,” a Meta spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a Tuesday statement.

The Oakland, California lawsuit, which challenges the use of AI-assisted decision-making for layoffs, may be the first of its kind, according to Reuters.

Meta’s scoring systems factored in productivity scores and how much workers used the company’s AI tools — and disproportionately targeted disabled and pregnant employees, in addition to those taking medical leave, the outlet reported.

“Metamate” was among the AI-powered tools used for the termination rankings, according to Reuters. Built on Meta’s Llama model, this AI assistant was launched to help employees with coding, research and drafting communications.

Another AI tool, called Meta’s “second brain,” meanwhile tracks employee communications and documents, according to Reuters. Meta also allegedly assigned the productivity scores by monitoring workers’ typing, screens, and online activity.

The plaintiffs were notified they will lose their jobs beginning July 22. They are now asking the court to halt the terminations while they pursue arbitration, the outlet reported.

The Mark Zuckerberg-run Meta — which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — cut roughly 8,000 jobs in May, about 10 percent of its workforce, as it invested in artificial intelligence, the New York Times reported. Another 7,000 employees were assigned to new AI-focused roles in the company.