Big Brother in Your Break-room: Corporations Spy with Software

Main Takeaways:

• Corporations are increasingly using monitoring software to keep tabs on employees’ activities.
• Experts express concern that gathered data could lead to widespread job automation.

A Whole New Level of Micromanaging

Forget the occasional side-eye from your overbearing boss; in the digital age, companies are now using software as their stealthy corporate sidekick. Think Santa Claus, but instead of figuring out if you’ve been naughty or nice, it’s determining the spreadsheet you’re pretending not to fall asleep on.

The real issue though, is the potential use of all this data. Experts are worried that efficient automation, already eyeing everyone’s job like cheese on a platter, might just use this information as its next culinary treat.

Surveillance State or Efficient Enterprise?

The corporate world is split between appreciation for the efficiency that these monitoring tools provide and the paranoia that we’re inching closer to a sci-fi styled dystopia where jobs are snapped up faster than hot cakes by relentless robots.

My Hot Take

Sure, increased productivity is as attractive as a fresh donut in the meeting room but the fear of job automation is as real as your manager ruining your Friday evening plans. In this new era, we need to recognize that the lines could get blurry between constructive supervision and outright spying. Meanwhile, it seems we all need to figure out how to look remarkably busy and “automation-proof” at all times. Anyone up for a workshop on ‘How not to get replaced by a robot’?

Original Article: https://www.wired.com/story/corporate-surveillance-train-ai/