FIR #387: Sentiment Analysis, Risk Mitigation, or Big Brother Surveillance?

A long list of A-list companies from across the spectrum of industries have embraced Artificial Intelligence in a way that is raising eyebrows: monitoring employee emails and posts to messaging and collaboration services like Slack and Microsoft Teams. Privacy experts are raising red flags over the trend. When CNBC reached out to these companies about how they’re using it, only two replied, suggesting the others would rather avoid public attention on disciplinary actions taken as a result of the AI’s surveillance capabilities. Meanwhile, research finds that employees who work for companies that engage in surveillance suffer mental wellness consequences. Neville and Shel discuss the trend in this short midweek episode. Links from this episode: How Walmart, Delta, Chevron and Starbucks are using AI to monitor employee messages Companies use AI to monitor workers—45% of employees say it has a negative effect on their mental health Is your company using AI to monitor you while you work? Major companies are reportedly using this AI tool to track Slack and Teams messages from more than 3 million employees. Privacy experts are alarmed. AI employee monitoring will only burn bridges in the workplace How Do Employees Really Feel About Their Companies? (2015 Wall Street Journal article) ---- The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, February 26. We host a Communicators Zoom Chat most Thursdays at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com. Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music. You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. You can catch up with both co-hosts on Neville’s blog and Shel’s blog. Neville’s Asides blog is also available.