Meta Surveils Employees to Train its AI & What Happens When You Give Cocaine to Salmon?

0:02Neal Freyman:The 2026 Chevy Equinox is more than an SUV. It's your Sunday tailgate and your parking lot snack bar. Your lucky jersey, your chairs and your big cooler fit perfectly in your even bigger cargo space. And when it's go time, your 11.3 inch diagonal touch screen's got the playbook, the playlist and the tech to stay a step ahead. It's more than an SUV. It's your Equinox. Chevrolet. Together let's drive.

0:32Good morning, Brew Daily Show. I'm Neil Freiman. And I'm Toby Howell. Today, why are gas prices so much lower in the U.S. than everywhere else?

0:39Neal Freyman:Then Meta is surveilling its employees to train its AI models. It's Thursday, April 23rd. Let's ride.

0:51Good morning. Well, you all came through. Excited to announce that Morning Brew Daily won the Webby for Best Business Podcast People's Voice winner. Appreciate everyone who voted for us, who got their friends and family to vote. It all made a huge difference. Toby, what should we say in the acceptance speech?

1:08Neal Freyman:So the Webby does acceptance speeches a little bit differently. They only give you five words, which maybe the Oscars should think about, but also got us thinking, what should we say? hey, I need you guys to show out once more, reply in an email, reply in an Instagram, reply in the comments section of what our big five-word acceptance speech should be because right now all I have is let's ride, let's ride, let's. So we're clearly in need of some help right now. But seriously, thank you everyone who voted for us. During that week, a couple people stopped, Neil and I, on the street. And that was the first thing that they brought up was like, hey, I'm going home right now to vote for you.

1:46Neal Freyman:So we appreciate the enthusiasm And it's really cool to see this podcast bring home some hardware. Yeah. What about these five words? This episode is brought to you. Too many. Too many. Okay. Well, I'll go into it anyway. This episode is brought to you by On Investing, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. Each week, host Lizanne Saunders, Schwab's chief investment strategist, and Colin Martin, head of fixed income research and strategy for the Schwab Center for Financial Research, bring you fresh insights into what's happening in the markets and why, and what the implications might be for your portfolio.

2:15Neal Freyman:Join Colin and Lizanne as they explore questions like, how do you evaluate corporate bonds that look interesting and what sectors are on the move right now? You can download the latest episode and subscribe at schwab.com slash oninvesting or wherever you get your podcasts. If you ever feel like somebody's watching you, they are if you work at Meta. Meta is installing software on its employees' computers that will track keystrokes and mouse movements, not to see if you're being productive, but to gather data to train their AI models. In a memo seen by Reuters, Meta justified the intrusion by saying it will help AI models learn how humans actually use computers.

2:53Neal Freyman:Our models need real examples, things like mouse movements, clicking buttons, and navigating drop-down menus, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said. Of course, the humans involved are more than a little dubious. That makes me super uncomfortable. How do we opt out? Was the top-like response to the internal announcement, according to messages seen by Business Insider, to which CTO Andrew Bosworth responded, there is no option to opt out of this on your work-provided laptop. Neil, screen surveillance and click tracking aren't new in the corporate world, but using humans as fodder to train the very models that might eventually replace them in the workforce, that's leading to backlash.

3:30Yeah, I think you're maybe underplaying the reaction from MetaEmployees. This is like a full on revolt. According to tech reporter Alex Heath, this broke such a strong reaction that a follow up note was posted internally acknowledging, quote, there has been a lot of concern about this. And then another said the tracking program is really antisocial and is going to be extremely bad press for the company. When Bosworth posted the fact that employees couldn't opt out, he was hit with a ton of emojis of angry faces, kind of like when you post in Slack. It was just completely bombarded with sad faces, angry faces.

4:04So employees are very upset about this. So why is Meta taking this step? They had to know it's going to tick off employees. Well, Meta is going all in on AI agents, AI systems that take over your computer and do stuff for you autonomously. But they're not very good at using computers like we do, just drop down menus and icons and clicking on icons and things like that. So they think so meta needs this data from employees about how employees use computers to train these AI systems. And I didn't mention that I didn't get to this when we were talking about the AI store run by Luna. But Luna, we talked about made a few mistakes, typical of AI agents.

4:43She tried to hire a painter from Afghanistan because in the drop down menu in TaskRabbit, Afghanistan is the top alphabetical country. So these are the mistakes that AI is making that meta wants to fix.

4:55Neal Freyman:Yeah, and the reason that they are using their own employees is because they've kind of exhausted most of the training data sets out there right now. This is a real problem that AI companies are running into is that they've basically scraped the entire internet at this point. So you have to find these alternative data sources. And Meta's like, wait, we have a lot of employees here. What if we just scraped our own employees' habits? Speaking of the amount of employees Meta has, it's getting smaller. Meta is planning to lay off 10 % of its workforce globally, which is why, again, the fact that they are being used basically as crash test dummies for the very models that are going to take their jobs hypothetically are being used as justification for firing people.

5:36Neal Freyman:That is why you are seeing all these angry face Slack emojis. I think that is the undercurrent is that it's very widely reported that these widespread layoffs, 10 % of the workforce, is coming next month. Meta had a response to this. You said there are safeguards in place to protect sensitive content, and the data is not being used for any other purpose rather than AI training. So they're not doing to measure performance or anything like that. But clearly a higher level of surveillance than white-collar workforces are used to. Anthropic's new model, Mythos, has been hyped as a menacing, dangerous, all-powerful cybersecurity threat.

6:11Neal Freyman:But a couple of random guys just gained access to it by guessing its URL. Anthropic has warned that Mythos is capable of exploiting vulnerabilities around the web at an unprecedented rate. Because of that danger, it's only been released to a select few organizations. But according to Bloomberg, a small group of users who belong to a Discord server that tries to hack unreleased models found their way in under Anthropic's nose by, quote, making an educated guess about the model's online location. In other words, they guessed the URL. Luckily, the group in question isn't up to anything nefarious.

6:44Neal Freyman:They have been regularly using Mythos since gaining access, but are more interested in playing around than wrecking global havoc, according to the report. But the incident shows that other less curious hackers could have gotten their hands on Mythos without Anthropic knowing. After getting a lot of praise for being very careful with Mythos, basically treating it as a powerful weapon the public shouldn't get his hands on yet, this is a bad look for Anthropic. I mean, this is wild. They did this huge miniature releasing where we developed this thing that is the cybersecurity equivalent of a nuclear weapon that can grant can get access and exploit vulnerabilities in every major operating system and every major web browser when directed by a user to do so could bring down governments.

7:28And these guys on a Discord server got access to it on the same day it was released, April 7th. And an interesting part of this is they didn't even hack it. They barely put in any effort. One of the guys who got access just used their permissions as a contractor, as a third-party contractor for Anthropic to gain access to Mythos. And the good news is that they don't want to do anything bad. They're just kind of playing around with it. But it certainly raises a lot of questions about Anthropic security procedures.

7:57Neal Freyman:Yeah, the big picture here is that whoever has the lead in building these powerful AI models also has outsized geopolitical advantages as well. Because now these product launches are not being treated like product launchers. They're literally being treated like weapons tests where you only allow a select amount of people access to them. And because if you can find flaws in the software that's running banks, power grids, governments, that means that you have much more leverage over the world than someone else does. So that was a subtext to this is the fact that most of the organizations that got access to this were in the U.S.

8:34Neal Freyman:Only one from Britain got access. So all of the U.S.'s allies and enemies are saying like, hey, is this going to be like the new normal when these models come out? It is essentially getting access to an all-powerful weapon. that tilts the balance in favor of the country that owns it. So definitely a wake-up call for friends and enemies alike. Yeah, one Russian pro-Kremlin outlet called Mythos, quote, worse than a nuclear bomb. But it's sure to raise even more questions about security processes of Anthropic. I mean, we're just coming off a month where two different leaks happened at Anthropic, including the source code for Claude Code, which set off a huge frenzy among the software communities.

9:13So another bad look for Anthropic. This is something they wanted to keep so tightly under wraps, and it was very easily accessed on the same day it came out. Moving on, sometimes a movie trailer isn't just a movie trailer. In the case of an upcoming Looney Tunes movie, it's a gleeful roast of a Hollywood giant. Yesterday brought the long-awaited trailer for Coyote vs. Acme, a live-action animation hybrid coming this summer starring Will Forte, John Cena, Wile E. Coyote, and a bunch of other popular Looney Tunes characters. It looks like a total blast. But hidden in the trailer, well, I shouldn't say hidden, it was pretty overt, were multiple barbs at Warner Brothers, which had previously shelved this movie.

9:50Yes, there is a juicy backstory. Back in 2023, Warner Brothers decided to cancel Coyote vs. Acme, despite it being completed with a$70 million budget and delighting audiences in previews. It was a very controversial move that elicited strongly negative responses from the creative community. But in 2025, independent distributor Ketchup Entertainment acquired the rights to the movie and set it on a path to theatrical release. And from the looks of the trailer, they are fully leaning into the beef with Warner Brothers. The fictional company Acme is used as a metaphor for the Hollywood studio, with the trailer stating, The movie Acme doesn't want you to see, meaning the movie Warner Brothers doesn't want you to see.

10:28Toby, I think people are going to roadrunner their way to this film.

10:30Neal Freyman:Yeah, the trailer looks great, honestly. All the cameos from all the Looney Tunes characters got me fired up, but the jokes, the anti-Warner Brothers jokes were right there front and center. At the end, a voiceover says the Acme Corporation is releasing this film for accounting purposes only. And that was truly the crux of this disagreement is that what do you mean you're taking a tax write-off on a pretty good movie that screened well with audiences? Just release the dang thing. Warner Brothers was being very sticky with the price it wanted someone to pay for the rights to distribute this film.

11:01Neal Freyman:Eventually, they were shopping it around for$75 million. Eventually, Ketchup brought it for$50 million. And I think everyone is going to be better off for this movie coming out because, like I said, I don't even love the Looney Tunes. But seeing a Bugs Bunny cameo kind of got me fired up. Yeah, so why did Warner Brothers show this in the first place? They had finished this movie, cost$70 million. Now, this is something in the industry that is called, tongue-in-cheek, Lee, Hollywood accounting. And it doesn't happen often, but it does happen where a movie is completed, but they just don't decide to release it.

11:35Now, one of the reasons is that it's bad and they don't want that just be a bad look for the studio to release a really bad film to audiences that will leave a bad taste in their mouth. Another reason is that it costs maybe this movie costs$70 million to market or to make, but maybe it will cost another$70 million to market when you get out into the theaters. I mean, it all sometimes costs just as much to market the movie as make it. So basically you're incurring additional costs. And Warner Brothers in this case might have just wanted to eat it. And then a final reason, this is what the accounting barb relates to, is that they might have just used this as a tax write-off.

12:12Warner Brothers a couple years ago had so much debt, and now they're selling themselves. But they wanted to pay down this debt. And one of the ways that they could do that is cancel these movies and use it as a tax write-off to lower their tax bill.

12:23Neal Freyman:But unfortunately, the fans kind of got whiff of all of this and the release Coyote vs. Acme hashtag started trending back in February of 2024. And then also one of the actors, one of the voice actors in the show, I should say, Eric Bauza, who does 10 characters in the film, went off script at an awards show and started improvising saying, I hate to be political, but release Coyote vs. Acme. But he did it in Daffy Duck's voice, which also went very viral. So when you have movies that get this groundswell of support, they never really die. They kind of just go on life support. It looks like, you know, the heartbeat is getting stronger and stronger.

12:56Neal Freyman:We're finally gonna see this movie and we haven't even talked about the plot. The plot is so funny. It's a genius So it's based on a satirical New Yorker piece from back in 1990 Basically Wile E. Coyote has been using all these Acme products to take down Roadrunner But they've just malfunctioned over the course of many years. So he's actually suing Acme He hires a lawyer will Forte to sue Acme. So it's about this courtroom battle Acme is being represented by John Cena, who's the big bad lawyer for the corporation. So just a very funny concept as well. All right, we're going to take a quick break and come back with Neil's numbers right after this.

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14:37Start your micro dose GLP-1 journey today at Noom.com. That's N-O-O-M dot com. Noom micro changes big results. See podcast description for full disclaimers. Toby, have you ever flown a friend?

14:51Neal Freyman:I think you mean phone a friend. Nope. I mean F-L-O-W-N flown. Ah, like when the founders at Unfiltered Hospitality use the rewards to fly a new hire for onboarding? Exactly. The rewards from Capital One's Venture X business card redefine premium for small business owners, like unlimited double miles on every purchase with no preset spending limit. It's straightforward and lets you earn travel bonuses. Spend more, earn more. Your rewards grow with your business. Enjoy big purchasing power that adapts to your business's needs. Terms apply. Head to CapitalOne.com slash Morning Brew. Welcome to Neil's Numbers, the segment where I share three stats in the week's news that will have you feeling like you could beat Jamie Ding in jeopardy.

15:32For my first number, let's answer the question of why are gas prices so much cheaper in the United States than in other countries? I know prices of over four dollars a gallon doesn't sound cheap. It is the highest average price in four years. But the grass is definitely not greener, even in other wealthy countries. In March, the Germans, French and Norwegians paid over$8 a gallon for gas. The UK was over$7 a gallon and Mexico over$5. So what gives? As The Wall Street Journal explains, one factor is that the U.S. has become the biggest oil producer in the world so that self-sufficiency shields Americans from supply shocks like, say, the closure of an important waterway.

16:09But a much bigger reason is taxes or the lack of them in the United States. The U.S. government has one of the lowest fuel tax rates in the world, accounting for about 16 percent of the retail price of a gallon in March. In Europe, it's a completely different story. Gas taxes there account for 50 to 60 percent of the retail price of fuel, according to S &P Energy. Look at Germany. They paid$8.75 a gallon last month, but more than half of that comes from taxes. Gas in Mexico averaged$5.07 in March, but$2 of that was taxes.

16:41Neal Freyman:I'm never complaining about gas prices again, because what do you mean$8.75 a gallon? I genuinely did not know they were paying that much for gas over in Europe, but it comes down to what the taxes are used for. The tax on fuel in the United States is mostly used to maintain roads and highways. The tax on fuel in Europe is used for much more. They want to fund transportation systems. It funds government spending at large, so it's just a bigger surcharge on top of it. But also, there is variation within gas prices within the United States as well. Much of the Midwest and Gulf Coast states are still paying relatively low prices, and it comes down to, a lot of it just comes down to access to supply.

17:21Neal Freyman:If you are closer to oil refineries, it is less expensive to transport that gas to your gas station. So that's why you are seeing lower prices in Louisiana and Mississippi and Texas rather than a California, which doesn't have as much access to refineries. And New Jersey. I mean, if you drive on the Jersey Turnpike, you're going to see a lot of refineries and maybe it stinks up your car a little bit. But at the same time, it has much lower gas prices than surrounding states because of that refining capacity. And also has to do with taxes. Taxes are variable across the United States. I mean, it's as low as nine cents per gallon in Alaska and then in California, where the gas is currently$5.80.

17:59Taxes account for 71 cents of that. My next number is a surprising factor in whether you apply to a college or not, the weather on your campus tour. A new paper from Amherst College found that if there's poor weather when you're visiting campus, you're less likely to apply by a considerable amount. According to the researchers, applications fell 10.1 % when a tour was hotter than moderate temperatures and 5.9 % when it was cold. Applications fell 8.3 % when there was precipitation and 4.9 % when it was cloudy relative to clear skies. The temperature effect is even more pronounced for prospective students who grew up in warm places.

18:35After particularly cold tours, applications dropped 14.6 % for these shivering kids. So what to make of all this? First of all, it's pretty wild that the weather on a specific day can impact one of the biggest decisions you will ever make. Also, it's assigned to campus tour guides to be aware of the weather. Find shade if it's hot, go inside as much as you possibly can if it's cold. Keep people comfortable and they're more likely to apply.

18:57Neal Freyman:I love these weather mitigation strategies that these tour guides are rolling out. Amherst's dean of emissions said that if it cracks 90, we bust out ice cream sandwiches, which, again, that would work on me. High Point University uses golf carts if it gets too warm to shuttle families around. I love what Minnesota does as well. They show off its elaborate network of tunnels and skyways if it gets too cold there. It sounds like common sense stuff, but then when you actually dive in the data and realize this makes or breaks if someone attends your college, I would do everything in my power to mitigate whatever the weather is doing this day.

19:32This literally happened to me. I mean, this was - I was gonna ask. Yeah, so I visited the University of Virginia one day when I was a high school junior, I guess. It was 70 and sunny. It was gorgeous. Everyone there was gorgeous. I was like, this is the place for me. I love it here. And then the next day, we drove up to University of Maryland College Park. It was rainy and 30 degrees. The tour was so bad. We left halfway and I was like, I am never going here. So I ended up applying to the University of Maryland. I ended up going there and I had a great time. But to me, I will never forget the experience of going to Charlottesville, Virginia, 70 degrees.

20:06Beautiful. The next day, College Park, 30 and rainy. And it really, I mean, the fact that it still sticks with me shows how impactful the weather is when you're having this tour. Because the College Park campus is great.