Meta Tests Robots to Replace Data Center Workers
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- Meta is testing robots from vendors including Watney Robotics, Kinova, and ABB inside its data centers to plug in cables, reset servers, and cut power to machines, according to current and former employees familiar with the projects.
- A Meta data center worker estimates that if the cable-swapping robot succeeds, it could replace up to 80 percent of some employees' workloads, adding: "We thought those of us performing the physical tasks were safe for a while, but not anymore."
- Since June 2024, Meta has run dual-armed Watney robots on cabling work at its Altoona, Iowa campus and ABB four-wheel robots with scissor-lift risers and six-axis arms at its newest site in New Albany, Ohio ("Prometheus"), reseating parts with diminishing human oversight.
- At the Altoona facility — Meta's largest data center campus — workers describe a demoralized tone in internal group chats, with employees saying "we're all going to be gone in a few years anyway because of the robots," even as some existing bots still struggle, like a grayscale-only inventory camera that can't read green vs. red indicator lights.
- Meta is also developing AI software that workers believe will let the company hire lower-skilled, lower-paid technicians and centralize roles in financially favorable hubs like Denver, Colorado — moving away from workers who "can think independently" toward "smart hands" who follow AI instructions.
- The automation push has drawn little scrutiny from activists opposing new data centers, even though host cities like Altoona are weighing whether to keep granting Meta tax breaks worth tens of millions annually; Mayor Dean O'Connor told WIRED he hasn't thought much about robots replacing jobs and will "deal with it as it comes."
- Microsoft is pursuing robotics for "economically valuable tasks" like replacing faulty server racks, Ashley Llorens, a managing director at Microsoft's research accelerator, said — placing Meta within a broader industry race to automate the physical layer of AI infrastructure.
Why it matters: Meta's Altoona campus, its largest, illustrates how automation could undercut the "jobs for humans" pitch used to win tens of millions in annual tax breaks from cash-strapped host cities — yet Mayor Dean O'Connor told WIRED he hasn't given the issue much thought. Even if full robot replacement is years off, workers say Meta is already using AI tools to deskill remaining roles and centralize them in cheaper hubs like Denver, reshaping both the labor market and the political bargain local governments have struck with hyperscalers.
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