AI Weekly: Workplace surveillance algorithms need to be regulated before it's too late

This week, the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on the future of work, a special interest group of members of parliament in the U.K., said that the monitoring of workers through algorithms is damaging to employees' mental health and needs to be regulated through legislation. This legislation, they said, could ensure that companies evaluate the effect of "performance-driven" guidelines, like queue monitoring in supermarkets, while providing employees the means to fight back against perceived violations of privacy. "Pervasive monitoring and target-setting technologies, in particular, are associated with pronounced negative impacts on mental and physical wellbeing as workers experience the extreme pressure of constant, real-time micromanagement and automated assessment," wrote the APPG members in a report. "[A new algorithms act would establish] a clear direction to ensure AI puts people first." The trend toward remote and hybrid work has prompted some companies to increase their use of monitoring technologies -- ostensibly to ensure that employees remain on task.