Meta Surveils Employees to Train its AI & What Happens When You Give Cocaine to Salmon?

April 23, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Meta Tracks Employee Keystrokes for AI Training, While Anthropic's "Superweapon" Model Gets Hacked by a Guessed URL

Meta is installing software on employees' work computers that tracks keystrokes and mouse movements—not to monitor productivity, but to gather training data for AI models. In a memo seen by Reuters, Meta justified the move by saying AI models need "real examples" of how humans interact with computers: mouse movements, clicking buttons, navigating drop-down menus. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone confirmed the reasoning publicly.

The reaction inside Meta was immediate and hostile. According to messages seen by Business Insider, the top-liked response to the internal announcement was: "That makes me super uncomfortable. How do we opt out?" CTO Andrew Bosworth replied bluntly: "There is no option to opt out of this on your work provided laptop." Tech reporter Alex Heath noted the backlash was so strong that a follow-up note acknowledged "a lot of concern about this," while another internal message called the tracking program "really anti-social" and predicted it would be "extremely bad press." When Bosworth posted that employees couldn't opt out, his message was flooded with angry-face emoji reactions.

Why Meta Is Doing This—and Why Employees Are Furious

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What you'll learn

1 (00:35) **US Gas Price Mystery & Meta Employee Surveillance** - Neil and Toby introduce the day's top stories including why US gas is cheaper and Meta tracking employees for AI training.
2 (06:05) **Anthropic's "Dangerous" AI Model Breached by Guessing a URL** - A supposedly locked-down cybersecurity AI was accessed by a small Discord group who simply guessed its web address.
3 (09:21) **Looney Tunes Movie Roasts Warner Bros. for Shelving It** - The trailer for "Coyote vs. Acme" openly mocks the studio that cancelled the completed film, which was later rescued by an independent distributor.
4 (15:25) **Neil's Numbers: Why US Gas is So Cheap** - The first stat explains that despite high prices, Americans pay far less than other wealthy nations due to low taxes and domestic oil production.
5 (18:01) **Neil's Numbers: Weather's Impact on College Applications** - A new study from Amherst College shows that poor weather during a campus tour significantly reduces the likelihood a student will apply.
6 (20:33) **Neil's Numbers: Cocaine Makes Salmon Swim Farther** - A new study found that Atlantic salmon exposed to cocaine swam significantly longer distances, highlighting the problem of drug pollution in waterways.
7 (22:45) **Spirit Airlines Rescue Deal & Sony's Ping Pong Robot** - The show closes with a potential government bailout for Spirit Airlines and a robot that can beat expert-level table tennis players.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Andrew Bosworth Alex Heath

Show Notes

Episode 830: Neal and Toby chat about Meta’s plans to track employee mouse movements and keystrokes to help train its AI models. Next, Anthropic’s all new powerful Mythos model has some unwelcomed users. Then, a new Looney Tunes film just dropped a trailer, even though it was nearly scrapped in 2023. Plus, it’s Neal’s Numbers on gas prices in the US, college weather, and cocaine salmon. Finally, Spirit Airlines may be resurrected.

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