Lawsuit alleges Meta's layoffs were determined by AI systems

A lawsuit filed by 26 employees against Meta claims that the company's layoffs of 8,000 employees were determined by artificial intelligence rather than human judgment. The complaint, submitted to the US District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that the layoffs disproportionately affected workers with disabilities and those who took protected medical or family leaves. According to the lawsuit, Meta utilized various internal AI tools, including a system referred to as 'Metamate,' to assess and rank employees for termination. The employees were reportedly evaluated based on their usage of Meta's AI tools, categorized into classifications such as 'AI Native,' 'AI First,' and 'AI Enabled.'