'Dystopian': Co-op becomes latest firm to put staff under AI surveillance

One employee says the system can mean their work is monitored by AI for seven hours a day as they handle inquiries, often from bereaved customers. One employee says the system can mean their work is monitored by AI for seven hours a day as they handle inquiries, often from bereaved customers. 'Dystopian': Co-op becomes latest firm to put staff under AI surveillance Thu 8 Oct 2026 05.00 EDTLast modified on Thu 8 Oct 2026 06.04 EDT The Co-op has become the latest employer to place workers under AI surveillance with an automated listening technology that rates every phone call some of them make to customers. In a system described as "oppressive and dystopian" by a whistleblower, Co-op Legal Services is using AI models to record, analyse and award a percentage score for interactions between agents and customers seeking advice about probate, wills and estates. A model from OpenAI has been trained to assess more than 50 discrete aspects of each phone call and provide pass and fail scores to managers who use the data to analyse employee performance.