‘It flags if you take longer than 30-second breaks’: Video reveals new ‘dystopian’ AI worker tracking tools

Employers are turning AI software into RoboHR by using their tools to monitor, discipline, and dismiss workers — and one Instagram reel has social users particularly concerned for the future of their jobs.    

On Nov. 25, 2024, Instagram user @Boringbusinesskieran posted a Reel reacting to a now-deleted Reddit post entitled “Employee monitoring software has gone off the deep end with AI.”

In the video, Kieran reports that this new monitoring software, “flags if you write slower than your co-workers, take longer than 30-second breaks, or deviate from your Monday to Thursday schedule on Fridays. It’s also collecting your workflow data to automate your job.” 

Kieran’s video, which has received almost 25,000 likes since it was posted two months ago, has elicited a slew of reactions from viewers.

Instagram user @cosmiceyepro describes the practice as “Modern slavery” and @_dave.de writes “I’d rather be milking goats for 3 euros a liter and live in the woods than comply to this dystopian sh*t.” Others are concerned about how this new metrics-first approach will affect their productivity, with @nanaforeverrr saying, “These companies need to realize that “constant productivity” is actually the least productive way to work.”

Kieran’s post also prompted commentary from the larger globe. User @aszlomarosi questioned “What in the American working culture is going on here,” a fair diagnosis given that this problem is more endemic in North America than in other parts of the world.

In an article published on Jan. 4, 2024, The Guardian reports that, unlike the US or Canada, unions in Europe have been advocating for worker protections against AI tracking tools for years. 

In Germany — which is looked at as a potential model for North American workers — telecommunications laborers won protections against having their digitally monitored data used as a basis for disciplinary action or dismissal. They also won protections from being fired by algorithms without human involvement. 

Back in the States, user @grrl_rolla wonders “what this software would think of me staring at the wall for several minutes because I'm thinking, which is part of my job. Not 100% of the work involves active computer work.” And user @gill290896 questions “Will management also be monitored or will it be rules for thee not for me?” 

“I think any company that monitors their employees like this is not going to make it,” Kieran states in his video. “Not just because all their good employees will quit, but because their management team…would rather spend time on productivity inputs rather than figuring out how to actually measure value.”

The unemployment rate may be dropping, but it’s clear from discourses like these that, at least in America, employers seem unlikely to take their feet off their workers’ necks.

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