Meta's AI Unit Faces Near-Revolt as Employees Call Forced Assignments 'Soul-Crushing' and Compare Group to a 'Gulag'

Meta's Applied AI unit is erupting in near-revolt as thousands of forcibly assigned engineers call the work 'soul-crushing' and compare the group to a 'gulag,' with a hijacked internal livestream descending into chaos, over 1,600 employees signing a petition against AI monitoring programs, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitting the sweeping changes have 'caused distress.'

• Meta's three-month-old Applied AI unit, comprising roughly 6,500 engineers and product managers, is facing a near-revolt as employees describe being forcibly drafted into the group with no real choice but to join or quit.
• Workers are assigned to generate puzzles and coding problems to train AI models, with many calling the work 'soul-crushing' and comparing the unit to a 'gulag,' while a hijacked internal livestream this week erupts into an expletive-filled meltdown targeting a senior AI executive.
• Morale is tanking across Meta broadly, with over 1,600 employees signing a petition against keystroke-monitoring AI training programs, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledging in an internal memo that recent changes have 'caused distress' and that mistakes were made.