Meta pauses employee tracker for AI training amid privacy concerns

<p>Zuckerberg, Meta’s founder and chief executive, <a href="https://x.com/MorePerfectUS/status/2056842597117636890" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">had told employees</a> that AI models – the underlying technology that powers AI tools such as Meta’s chatbots – learn from “watching really smart people do things”, according to an account of an internal company meeting.</p>

<p>“The average intelligence of the people who are at this company is significantly higher than the average set of people that you can get to do tasks,” he said, adding that the coding skills of Meta engineers would dramatically improve a model’s coding abilities.</p>

<p>Zuckerberg is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/may/19/meta-jobs-ai-transfers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pouring vast sums into an AI drive at Meta</a> and is spending up to $145bn (£110bn) at the company in capital expenditure this year, with much of it going on AI investment such as datacentres.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, the New York Times has reported that Zuckerberg recently ordered a small team at the $1.4tn company to create a smartphone app similar to Polymarket and Kalshi, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/apr/11/polymarket-gamblers-betting-iran-war-ukraine-news-truth" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">prediction market sites</a> that allow users to place wagers on events ranging from Tony award winners to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/18/polymarket-gamblers-threaten-israeli-journalist-missile-strike-wager" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Iran conflict</a>. About $24bn in wagers in total are placed each month on Kalshi and Polymarket, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/05/27/trading-volume-on-prediction-markets-has-soared-in-recent-months/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">according to the Pew Research Centre</a>.</p>

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<p>The tentative project has been called Arena and would function separately from Meta’s social media and messaging apps, the NYT reported. It added that the proto-app remains in development and may not be released.</p>

<p>Mike Proulx, a research director at the analysis company Forrester, said moving into a controversial area such as prediction markets – which have already drawn legal scrutiny in the US – was “not a great look” for a company <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/mar/25/jury-verdict-us-first-social-media-addiction-trial-meta-youtube" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">under legal pressure</a> because of its social media products.</p>

<p>Meta has been contacted for comment.</p>

Guardian Sport · Jun 24

Guardian Sport · Jun 24

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