Meta Contractor Fires 1,100 AI Trainers as Ray-Ban Glasses Spark Privacy Uproar
Meta Contractor Fires 1,100 AI Trainers as Ray-Ban Glasses Spark Privacy Uproar
Meta cuts ties with Sama after reports that Ray-Ban smart glasses footage trained its AI. Some workers say speaking up led to consequences, raising questions about consent, privacy, and how AI learns.
Meta has quietly ended its partnership with a vendor that helped train its generative AI systems using footage captured by Ray-Ban smart glasses. The contractor, Sama, later announced the termination of 1,108 employees. Some of these employees claimed they faced consequences after speaking up about the sensitive nature of the footage they reviewed.
The news broke in February when workers at Sama's Nairobi office told two Swedish newspapers that their tasks involved labeling footage from smart glasses. This footage often showed people who were unaware they were being recorded.
The glasses come with an AI assistant that records audio and video, some of which is used as training data for the AI. Human contractors process and label material that the AI finds challenging.
Meta explains that its terms of service cover these details and emphasizes that the glasses require explicit user permission to activate AI mode. Despite this, Sama employees reported that the glasses captured sensitive information, such as banking details, private conversations, and intimate moments.
After the report, Meta canceled its contract, stating that Sama did not meet its standards. In response, Sama claimed it never received any feedback indicating that its work was inadequate. Employees also mentioned being forced to work without any assignments while security tightened as Sama sought to identify the whistleblowers.
Sama is the same company that OpenAI hired to train ChatGPT before its release in 2022. To reduce toxicity in the chatbot, workers in Kenya were paid less than $2 a day to filter disturbing content, which negatively affected their mental health. That year, both Meta and Sama faced accusations of using misleading job ads that resembled human trafficking and laying off workers who tried to unionize.
The recording features of smart glasses have drawn criticism ever since Google Glass faced strong public backlash years ago. With Meta reviving the product line using more discreet designs, users have been seen using the devices in courtrooms, during police operations, and in classrooms while taking exams. Apple is reportedly testing up to four smart glass designs to compete with Meta.
