'Constantly watched': AI facial surveillance is measuring how much workers are concentrating
Brad Reed
May 31, 2023,

A stressed woman works at her laptop (Shutterstock).

Some companies are now using tools that combine facial recognition software with artificial intelligence to constantly monitor and assess how much their workers are concentrating while on the job, The Guardian reports.

A woman in her 20s called Mae who spoke with the Guardian recounted how incredibly stressful it is to have your facial expressions monitored and cataloged in ways that will be used to evaluate your performance.

"Tracking doesn’t allow for thinking time or stepping away and coming back to work – it’s very intense," she explained.

What's more, she says that the technology has hurt her productivity and she has found she actually gets more work done when she's not being "constantly watched."

Of course, this actually requires her to do more work in secret after hours just to keep up with what she needs to get done.

Another worker who spoke with The Guardian, who goes by the name of Carlos, revealed that he's being surveilled minute by minute at his job and revealed to the publication that "I have found myself having to explain the reasons for a longer toilet break."

Henry Parkes, a senior economist at the Institute for Public Policy Research, tells The Guardian that "this technology can just be used to exert power over employees in a way that wasn’t possible before," while adding that " it’s dehumanizing and not how people are able to operate all day."

However, a worker who goes by the name of Adam tells The Guardian that he was able to get his boss to back off intensive tracking as soon as he reported it to his union.

"They are now aware that the watchers are being watched," he told the publication.