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Artificial intelligence is transforming the world of work at a speed we struggle to grasp. And not always in the direction we were promised.
The most recent and striking example involves Meta. On April 21, 2026, Reuters revealed that Meta had silently deployed monitoring software on its employees' laptops in the United States, capturing every keystroke, mouse movement, click, and periodic screenshot as they worked on hundreds of websites and applications.
The program is internally called the Model Capability Initiative (MCI). The company claims that this data is used solely to train AI models, not to evaluate employee performance. But one detail speaks volumes: there is no option to disable it. And European employees are exempt... because the GDPR doesn't allow it.
The question is inevitable: if there's nothing wrong with it, why can't it be done in Europe?
What makes the Meta case even more disturbing is the context. The company laid off 8,000 employees the same week this tracking program began to be rolled out. Mass layoffs and absolute control simultaneously. It's hard not to connect the two.
And Meta is not alone. Large companies have expanded the digital surveillance of their employees, moving from basic security checks to continuous analysis of heartbeats, app usage, internal messaging patterns, and even physical movements within the offices.
AI is being used as an excuse and as a tool of pressure. Let's be clear: AI can be an extraordinary tool. It can help workers be more efficient, make better decisions, and free themselves from repetitive tasks. But that requires one fundamental thing: that the company genuinely wants its employees to thrive.
When the sole objective is to squeeze productivity and justify layoffs to shareholders, AI becomes something very different: a supervisor who never sleeps, who lacks empathy, and who measures everything with cold, mathematical precision.
This model is generating intense debate among experts. Workers, who were once attracted by the flexibility and creative culture of Big Tech, now find themselves under digital microscopes. The result is easy to imagine: distrust, demotivation, and talent leaving.
Those of us who have worked for decades in the corporate world, and especially those of us who have held management positions, know this very well. Committed teams aren't built with surveillance; they're built with trust, recognition, and purpose. An employee who feels respected gives much more than one who feels spied on.
Companies that have survived crises, technological disruptions, and market changes haven't done so because they had the best control software. They've done so because they had motivated people willing to adapt and find solutions.
The good news is that there are companies using AI responsibly: to reduce bureaucratic burdens, to improve internal training, to anticipate customer needs. Companies where AI works with people, not against them. That's the model that should be the norm. Not control, but collaboration. Not surveillance, but trust enhanced by technology.
AI is only as good or as bad as the intentions of those who use it. And companies that see their employees only as data to be optimized will end up paying a price: the loss of talent, the erosion of commitment, and a culture that breaks down from within.
The path of technological exploitation doesn't lead far. It never has.
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