More Than 700 Meta AI Contract Workers in Ireland Face Layoffs

More than 700 workers employed by a Meta contractor in Ireland have been told their jobs are at risk as the company embarks on a new round of layoffs, according to documents obtained by WIRED. The affected workers are employed by Covalen, a Dublin-based firm that provides content moderation and labeling services for Meta. They were informed of the layoffs during a brief video meeting on Monday afternoon and were not allowed to ask questions, according to Nick Bennett, one of the employees on the call. Roughly 500 of the affected workers are data annotators. Their role is to review material generated by Meta's AI models against company rules barring dangerous and illegal content. One anonymous Covalen employee described the work as training the AI to eventually replace human reviewers. Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton said the company regularly reviews its partnerships and that changes to vendor operations are a normal part of business. Covalen did not respond to a request for comment. The layoffs highlight growing tension in the AI labor market. Some workers facing displacement are doubtful about their prospects in a field being reshaped by the same technology they helped refine.