How AI takes workplace surveillance to another level

We all know that companies track what we do on work devices. If, for example, you’re listening to this show right now on a company phone or laptop, your boss could probably find that out, assuming they wanted to. And now, the emergence of artificial intelligence means an AI-driven worker surveillance program may be logging everything you do, completely automatically, and then judging your performance based on whatever it’s been told to look for.

Valerio de Stefano is the Canada research chair in innovation, law and society at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School. “The hype around artificial intelligence has convinced companies, employers, managers … that they can basically outsource to AI some of the vital functions of management,” says De Stefano, “this is a big misconception.”

So should companies be allowed to fire you based on the advice of a piece of software? And if not, how can we stop them?

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