Meta employees allege discriminatory AI-driven layoffs

SAN FRANCISCO — Twenty-six Meta employees have filed a lawsuit accusing the tech giant of using artificial intelligence (AI) to select workers for mass layoffs, a claim strongly denied by the trillion dollar company.

They are among the 8,000 employees — some 10 percent of the workforce — Meta said it would lay off in spring, as it pushes to redirect resources toward an ambitious AI agenda.

According to the lawsuit, filed in Oakland, California on Monday Meta used AI systems to "score, rank, and select employees" to be laid off rather than "the considered judgement of managers who knew the work" while disproportionately targeting those on medical or family leave.

The AI systems relied on "performance ratings, calibration scores, productivity and output metrics" — markers that cannot be accumulated by an employee on medical or family leave and may be reduced for people with disabilities.

Meta "did not pause the system for the individualized, leave- and accommodation-neutral review that the law requires," the 71-page complaint said.

All 26 employees took or requested protected leave, ...