Human labor behind AI features

The Human Concierge program involved human staff performing or assisting tasks that were billed to users as AI capabilities — a practice often described as the "AI was supposed to do it, but humans did it behind the scenes" problem. The program's discontinuation was reported in connection with scrutiny of how much of the service's workload was actually handled by automation versus people.

Details on the exact number of workers affected, the timeline of the wind-down, and which specific Meta products were served by the concierge team have not been fully disclosed, and remain unconfirmed.

Implications for AI marketing

The episode adds to broader concerns in the industry about companies presenting human-backed operations as AI-driven, a gap that regulators and users have increasingly questioned as AI services expand. Meta has not issued a detailed public explanation of the reasons for ending the program beyond the discontinuation itself.

The claim that Meta discontinued its Human Concierge program amid criticism that humans were doing the work behind supposedly AI-powered services is Mostly True.