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A viral Reddit post highlights a software that compares employee data with colleagues, sparking concerns over AI-driven surveillance in the workplace.
Social media users voiced their displeasure with the software’s role. (Representative Image)
Imagine your every keystroke, typing speed, website visit and email being scrutinised — not just tracked but compared against your colleagues to flag “unusual” behaviours, with “red flags” sent directly to your manager. That’s the reality a viral Reddit post has unveiled, shedding light on a “pretty big” productivity tool with unsettling AI-powered surveillance capabilities. The post has sparked widespread backlash online, intensifying the conversation about digital workplace surveillance and employee privacy.
The Reddit user said in his now-viral post that he found what artificial intelligence (AI) is capable of when he had “the pleasure of sitting through a sales pitch for a pretty big ‘productivity monitoring’ software suite.” Beyond standard features like tracking keystrokes and capturing desktop screenshots every few seconds, the software leverages AI for more advanced and intrusive monitoring.
The user says the software permits management to categorise employees by “work category.” The software then uses AI to generate a productivity graph based on “all your mouse movement data, where you click, how fast you type, how often you use backspace, the sites you visit, the programs you open, how many emails you send.”
Artificial intelligence is also utilised to compare this data to that of your coworkers, and any ‘productivity gaps’ are reported to your management. “If you fall below a cutoff percentage (say you type slower than your colleague or take longer to fill out a form or have to answer a phone call in the middle of writing an email), you get a red flag for review that gets sent to your manager and whoever else they choose,” the Reddit user elaborated.
These red flags or warnings might be raised to indicate any perceived or actual productivity deficiencies. For example, if your desktop remains inactive for more than 30 to 60 seconds, you will see a red alert. If your workflow is constant Monday-Thursday but goes below the predetermined aggregate data score on Friday, you get a red flag.
Check the post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/overemployed/comments/1gy7lma/employee_monitoring_software_has_gone_off_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
The post on Reddit attracted a lot of attention. Shared on November 24, it has garnered over 2,000 upvotes.
One user said, “So the AI I have doing my work is going to be monitored by AI?”
Another asked, “That’s interesting. Does it run on a guillotine?”
“Yeah I’ve had that used against me in my last company. Even though I was solely in charge of two big projects going smooth, somehow I wasn’t clicking enough,” a user commented.
Meanwhile, the software company has sparked fresh concerns on Reddit about AI-driven job displacement, claiming that the data it collects can be used for “workflow efficiency automation” alongside offering AI automation services.
