Companies are tracking what workers do on their devices. Meta is now doing this to train AI agents — logging keystrokes, mouse movements, clicks — to teach AI how employees actually complete tasks.
The logic is simple: AI agents need real examples of real work. Scraping the internet isn't enough. Watching how your best people operate is.
Analysts call this "digital exhaust" — the trail of behavioral data workers leave behind. It's specific, operational, and extremely valuable. One researcher put it bluntly: companies aren't just measuring productivity anymore, they're capturing institutional knowledge in real time.
But there are limits. Most companies are sitting on more worker data than they can actually use. Storage is costly, security risks are real, and the data often doesn't capture the full picture of what someone does — especially in complex or relationship-heavy roles. Software engineers are easy to monitor. A lot of other work isn't.
Meta told employees about the monitoring upfront. That's apparently notable. Many companies don't. When workers find out later, it feels like a betrayal.
The broader dynamic: employers have power, workers don't, and AI is tipping the balance further. Some workers may go along with monitoring that could eventually cost them their jobs — because compliance buys time. Train the thing that might replace you, keep your paycheck two more years.
The endgame for companies, especially in tech: use your own workforce to build agents, then sell that playbook to everyone else.
Roughly 1,400 people across Nike's Global Operations team will be laid off, the company announced Thursday.
In a memo to employees, Chief Operating Officer Venkatesh Alagirisamy said the cuts will primarily affect Nike’s technology division and span North America, Asia and Europe, representing just under 2% of the company’s global workforce.
"This is not a new direction," Alagirisamy wrote. "It is the next phase of the work already underway."
The announcement follows a series of recent job cuts as Nike restructures its operations.
Nike announced layoffs affecting about 1,400 employees as part of a broader restructuring effort, the company said. (iStock / iStock)
In January, the company said it would cut 775 jobs as part of an automation push at distribution centers.
In February 2024, Nike announced plans to reduce its workforce by about 2%, or more than 1,600 employees, and a few months later, in August, said it would cut less than 1% of corporate staff as part of a broader turnaround effort under CEO Elliott Hill.
Shares rose about 0.5% in after-hours trading, though Nike stock has lost more than half its value over the past three years.
According to Alagirisamy’s memo, the layoffs are aimed at streamlining supply chains for materials, footwear and apparel, and centralizing technology operations in two hubs: Beaverton, Oregon, and the Nike India Technology Center.
The logo of Nike is pictured in a store in Manhattan on March 30, 2026 in New York City. (Zamek/VIEWpress / Getty Images)
Nike also plans to move some Converse manufacturing and engineering operations closer to factory partners.
"These changes are meant to make the company less complex and more responsive," Alagirisamy said. "As we look ahead, that means simplifying parts of how we operate, using more advanced automation where it helps us work better, and building an even stronger end-to-end foundation for future growth."
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Hill, who became CEO in 2024, has pledged to refocus the Nike brand on core sports, such as running and soccer, while accelerating new product launches.
Nike plans to lay off about 1,400 workers as it streamlines operations and invests in automation, the company said. (REUTERS/Anton Vaganov / Reuters)
Nike forecast a 2% to 4% drop in sales this quarter, with China, a key market, expected to decline about 20%, the company said.
Nike referred FOX Business to Alagirisamy’s memo when asked for comment.
Meta just showed us what the future of work looks like: you train the AI, then the AI takes your job.
The company is laying off 8,000 people — 10% of its workforce — while simultaneously rolling out software that records employees' every keystroke and mouse click to train the AI models that will replace them. One internal memo put it plainly: AI agents do the work now. Humans just supervise.
The surveillance tool went viral internally. Top employee reaction: "How do we opt out?" There is no opt-out. Personal email? Also tracked. Sentiment among Meta staff has hit its most negative level ever — 80% of posts on the anonymous employee platform Blind are negative, up from 20% last year.
Zuckerberg, meanwhile, is thrilled. He's contributing to the company's codebase, building a personal "CEO agent," and repeating one phrase like a mantra: "small teams, big output." Fifty engineers to one manager. Projects that once required entire teams are now handled by a single talented person with the right prompts.
Meta plans to spend up to $135 billion on AI infrastructure this year. The layoffs are how they're helping pay for it.
Jack Dorsey thinks every company will follow within a year. Many workers already feel like they're watching it happen in real time — from the inside.
For the Fed, this is constructive news on one half of its dual mandate. Employment remains resilient. Layoffs are limited. The April payroll reference period is captured in this data, which means the jobs report expected next month is unlikely to show meaningful deterioration.
The story behind the story is that employment is rising mostly in healthcare and construction. Data centers and chip infrastructure are a positive tailwind to the construction sector.
In addition, small businesses can't keep hiring on the background and have started hiring.
That matters for fixed-income investors because it keeps the Fed in a holding pattern. With PCE inflation still running well above target, and potentially approaching 4% by May, the employment leg of the mandate is not giving the Fed cover to cut.
Inflation becomes the Fed's front-and-center mandate once again.
Meta is laying off about 8,000 workers, or about 10% of its workforce, the company said Thursday as it continues to ramp up spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure and highly paid AI-expert hires.
The company said it was making the cuts for the sake of efficiency and to allow new investments in parts of its business, as first reported by Bloomberg, which also said the company will leave about 6,000 jobs unfilled.
Also, on Thursday, Microsoft said it was offering voluntary buyouts to thousands of its U.S. employees.
The software giant plans to make the offers in early May to about 8,750 people, or 7% of its U.S. workforce, according to two people familiar with the plan who were not authorized to speak about it publicly.
While an alternative to the sudden layoffs removing tech workers from peers like Meta and Oracle, the savings are likely tied to a similar industry upheaval that is requiring huge spending on the costs of artificial intelligence. Meta has already warned investors that its 2026 expenses will grow significantly — to the range of $162 billion to $169 billion — driven by infrastructure costs and employee compensation, particularly for the artificial intelligence experts it’s been hiring at eye-popping pay levels.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives welcomed Meta’s cuts in a note to investors Thursday.
He said he sees it as part of a strategy of using AI tools to “automate tasks that once required large teams, allowing the company to streamline operations and reduce costs while maintaining productivity driving an increased need for a leaner operating structure.”
Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, has spent billions of dollars operating an ever-expanding global network of data centers powering cloud computing services, AI systems and its own suite of productivity tools, including the AI assistant Copilot.
CNBC reported earlier Thursday on a memo from Microsoft’s chief people officer, Amy Coleman, announcing the voluntary retirement plan.
“Our hope is that this program gives those eligible the choice to take that next step on their own terms, with generous company support,” Coleman wrote, according to CNBC.
The memo Meta sent announcing a 10% cut to the workforce and the closure of 6,000 open roles called it just that…an “effort to run the company more efficiently and to allow us to offset the other investments.”
Those other investments including a $21B compute deal inked with CoreWeave this month?
Microsoft is offering 7% of the workforce early retirement on the same day as it announces an $18B investment in Australia on AI compute and infrastructure.
These packages are often seen as generous - Meta offering 16 weeks base pay plus two weeks for every year of employment, plus healthcare support.
But they acknowledge it’s “unwelcome news.”
And it means AI seems ever more unwelcome by the general public.
Fear about job losses, adding to anger about energy costs and the climate impact.
Lmk if your reactions.
Is it one of concern, have you been affected?
Are you also able to hold out some optimism that new roles will be created, more “abundance” will come from AI?