Big Boss is Watching: How US companies are using AI to snoop on employees

Still working from home in the US?

Your company may be spying on you – and using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to do so.

Fox News reported that behemoths such as Walmart, Delta, T-Mobile, Chevron and Starbucks are using software from a start-up firm to monitor employees’ conversations.

But what do we know about this? And how does it work?

Let’s take a closer look:

According to Fox Business, the firms are keeping an eye on employees via software from start-up company called Aware.

The company’s software reportedly keeps tabs on apps such as Slack and Microsoft.

The former is used by over 100,000 firms, while the latter has over 280 million monthly users.

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The firm claims to have analysed 20 billion messages from three million employees.

CNBC quoted company co-founder CEO Jeff Schumann, co-founder and CEO as saying the software allows firms to “understand the risk within their communications.”

He said it gives a snapshot of employee feelings in real time – instead of an annual or semi-annual appraisal.

Schumann said the firms can check how employees are responding to new policies or marketing pushes.

“It’s always tracking real-time employee sentiment, and it’s always tracking real-time toxicity,” Schumann said. “If you were a bank using Aware and the sentiment of the workforce spiked in the last 20 minutes, it’s because they’re talking about something positively, collectively. The technology would be able to tell them whatever it was.”

Schumann said the software – which can scan both text messages and images – can also be used to identify other harmful conduct such as bullying, harassment, discrimination, noncompliance, pornography and nudity.

Schumann told CNBC that company revenue is up 150 per cent every year for the past five years.

The typical company that uses its software has about 30,000 employees.

The firm says its software flags certain keywords that hint at employee unhappiness and safety risks.

Aware said the companies use the software for to deal with governance risk and compliance.

This kind of work comprises 80 per cent of the companies’ business.

Some people are disturbed by the development.

"I would feel like, I don't know, like they're just trying to get something out of me and get me in trouble or something. I don't know, it would be very sneaky," a woman told FOX Business' Lydia Hu.

"I've seen AI being used first-hand, and it's so flawed and so messed up that I just think it wouldn't be a useful investment of anyone's time or money anyways. And that just doesn't really foster a trustworthy kind of business vibe," another woman added.

But others were less concerned.

"I think I'm fine with it because I'm very watchful of what I do on company time, company property, anything like that," a man told the outlet.

Delta told CNBC it uses the software to monitor trends and feelings to gain feedback from employees and other stakeholders.

It said it also used it to keep a legal record of its social media platform.

Experts say the development could be problematic.

Jutta Williams, co-founder of AI accountability non-profit Humane Intelligence, told CNBC, “A lot of this becomes thought crime.”

Amba Kak, executive director of the AI Now Institute at New York University, told the outlet, “It results in a chilling effect on what people are saying in the workplace. These are as much worker rights issues as they are privacy issues.”

Regardless, it seems we are in a brave new world – and there’s no going back.