Meta Reverses Controversial AI Task Force Policy Amidst Employee Backlash

Days after Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth admitted that morale at the company was near ‘the worst it’s ever been’, the company has reversed course on one of its most controversial employee policies. As reported by Business Insider, according to an internal memo obtained by Business Insider, Meta will no longer force engineers to join its Applied AI task force. Last month, Meta reassigned around 7,000 employees to AI-focused units in order help train its next-generation models. This move of the company sparked backlash, with employees comparing the work to data labelling. In Wednesday’s memo, Meta told staff it would now, “defer to each individual’s choice,” adding: “Personal agency will remain at the heart of all opportunities at Meta.”

Preferential placement for employees

The memo also noted that employees who had been “drafted” into the AI unit would receive preferential placement in other parts of the company due to staffing shortages. On workplace forum Blind, some employees described the reversal as an “undraft.”

Layoffs add to tensions

The policy reversal comes on the heels of Meta’s decision to lay off 10% of its workforce — about 8,000 employees — earlier this month. Combined with the AI task force controversy, the cuts have fueled unrest inside the company. Bosworth himself acknowledged in a recent memo that morale was at historic lows, even as Meta pushes aggressively into AI.

Why 1,600 Meta employees fought the AI tracking tool

MCI or Model Capability Initiative drew fire well before it leaked. More than 1,600 employees signed a petition warning the data collection invited security and regulatory trouble, breaches included. Zuckerberg brushed past those concerns, telling staff in leaked audio that AI learns best by "watching really smart people do things"—and that Meta's own workforce beat any contractor it could hire. Meta insists nothing was improperly accessed. "We have carefully designed this program with privacy safeguards," spokesperson Tracy Clayton said, "and while we have no indication at this time that any data was improperly accessed by Meta employees, we're pausing it while we investigate." CTO Andrew Bosworth conceded the rollout missed the bar its own privacy review had set. It caps a brutal stretch for Meta—mass layoffs, an AI reorg Bosworth himself called "atrocious," and a roughly $140 billion AI bill. And it follows a rare note of contrition from the top: in a leaked memo this month, reported by Reuters, Zuckerberg told staff the company had "made mistakes and will almost certainly make more" as it pushes through its AI overhaul.