Co-op, the British consumer co-operative running supermarkets, undertakers, insurance and legal services, has become the latest firm to put staff under AI surveillance. The company’s legal services arm uses automated listening technology that records, analyzes and awards a percentage score for every phone call agents make to customers seeking advice on probate, wills and estates.
A whistleblower described the system as “oppressive and dystopian.” One Co-op worker, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “You are being watched.” The Co-op said it did not recognize the criticism and added that its probate advisers were highly engaged.
Global trend of workplace monitoring
Employees across the globe are increasingly finding themselves minutely monitored in their workplaces, with tiny changes in their behavior resulting in negative performance evaluations. The Co-op case is the latest example of workers bristling at such surveillance.
Resentment over workers’ treatment is already translating into policy, a break from the sluggishness of most technology regulations. In California, Governor Gavin Newsom signed laws last week that prohibit certain types of workplace surveillance, including heat maps that track employees’ movements, such as how long they spend in the bathroom, or having their emotional states monitored.
Broader AI impact on workers
Amazon warehouse workers have previously complained about being timed on their bathroom breaks, and at Kaiser Permanente, a California hospital chain, nurses have said automated systems rated their tone of voice in patient interactions.
Two stories in the Guardian’s Reworked series examine who is enriched by AI. One details how the AI boom is leaving women out of the largest engine of growth in the US economy, with Donald Trump’s all-male summit of AI leaders as a visible example. Across AI-related occupations, the median pay of men is $45,000 higher than that of women, according to LinkedIn research.
Another story examines dire working conditions under AI and automation. Refugees in Kenya are completing tasks for foreign technology companies under opaque conditions, with compensation tied to a “reward” system that decides payment based on work quality. Many workers called the system unfair but said they had few other options.
Sam Altman recently remarked on a podcast: “We believe that the world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology.” He was referring to consequences like the hack of Hugging Face or attempted creation of bioweapons, which lack the moral outrage of human consequences.
