Volkswacht Bodensee - Meta employees allege discriminatory AI-driven layoffs

They are among the 8,000 employees -- some 10 percent 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 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.

- 'Claims lack merit' -

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 saying by multiple US 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 did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.

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.

S.Gantenbein--VB