Twenty-six Meta employees have sued the company, alleging the tech giant used artificial intelligence to select workers for mass layoffs, a claim strongly denied by the trillion-dollar firm.
They are among the 8,000 employees – some 10% 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 is accused to had 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, or requested or received a reasonable accommodation for disability, it noted.
"Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI," a Meta spokesperson was quoted as saying by multiple U.S. outlets, including CNBC and The Verge.
A Meta spokesperson told CNBC in an email that the "claims lack merit and are not based on facts."
Meta's cuts are funding a massive race for infrastructure, with the company planning to spend up to $145 billion on AI investments this year, nearly twice last year's figure.
