Workers Training Meta's AI at Covalen Face Mass Layoffs — 700 Jobs at Risk in Ireland

Wired / Hacker News·medium signal

Wired reports that 700 employees at Dublin-based Covalen, which handles AI content moderation and data labeling for Meta, face layoffs — including ~500 data annotators who check AI model outputs against Meta's rules. This is Covalen's second cut in months (400 in November). It coincides with Meta's broader 8,000-person (10%) workforce reduction and $115B AI infrastructure spend planned for 2026. The human labor behind AI training continues to be treated as disposable.