r/technology • u/Just-Grocery-2229 • 7h ago
Artificial Intelligence New Jersey worker says employer's AI photographed her at home every 3 minutes, then fired her | "A camera in your living room is cheaper than a manager."
https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/new-jersey-ai-workplace-monitoring-lawsuit168
u/Just-Grocery-2229 7h ago
Cheaper than a manager, sure. Also cheaper than basic respect, apparently.
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u/gweran 6h ago
I think the real takeaway is that managers at this company spend their time watching your webcam to make sure you are working? Maybe not all the time, but at least some of the time if this software reduces that by 90%.
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u/za72 5h ago
Mangers are glorified babysitters
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u/leftofdanzig 4h ago
Maybe you’ve only worked at jobs with bad managers?
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u/za72 4h ago
I'll be honest I've worked at 5 tech companies since the 90s - majority were washed out bureaucrats who just got in the way... are you a competent manager?
I've only had 1 recent experience with management with critical thinking abilities and they were at the C level
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u/leftofdanzig 4h ago
Maybe that’s the issue? At my last 3 jobs my managers have been awesome, a great balance of support without being overbearing/micromanaging
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u/Yesyesyes1899 48m ago
its the system that most companies apply, that filters a certain type of person into the position of middle management. spineless, creating artificial pressure, manipulative and controlling are qualities i have observed very often. they wanna move upwards. so they become the most radical version of that, to squeeze " productivity " out of the workers.
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u/pixel_of_moral_decay 4h ago
There’s also software out there that can use cameras and even sniff your home network via your WiFi to try and figure out how much financial distress you are in.
Useful to minimize raises needed to retain employees. You can count TV’s, iPads etc. give a score to someone’s living room etc.
It’s pretty messed up, but this is what employers will do to save money.
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u/Whargod 1h ago
This is just lazy. I work remotely as do many others at the company I work for. There's an easy way they can tell if we're actually working or not and it takes nearly zero effort or invasive technologies.
Are we getting our work done?
I should probably market this, it seems like it's suddenly a revolutionary idea somehow.
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u/OldWrangler9033 4h ago
Sounds like she has enough evidence she can bury this company in a law suit. Inhuman treatment.
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u/farkwadian 7h ago
don't well of your face happen to you?
now you're talking my language.
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u/IGotDibsYo 7h ago
Your language apparently is incoherent because that doesn’t look grammatically correct.
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u/Kahnza 5h ago
No kidding. Kind of like that was the point they were trying to make with the image displayed for this article.
Evidence: https://imgur.com/a/otlxzjy
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u/AmericanDoughboy 1h ago
Not only that, but the headline says the AI fired her. The article says management fired her. lol.
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u/MydnightWN 3h ago edited 2h ago
She was fired because she threatened to sue over the laptop using her face as biometric security to ensure the right person was using it. She claimed the act of knowing she was on camera gave her anxiety... so she went on TikTok to be on a camera and tell everyone.
Ed: downvotes don't change facts, article literally right there. She demanded (under threat of legal action) an accommodation under the Disability Act, without a medically documented disability. When she was denied, she went crying to social media and had people harass her employer. Stupid games, stupid prizes.
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u/ex0thermist 14m ago
This might be a solid point, if it were true. But the linked article includes a TikTok post from someone else, not the fired woman in question. There's no mention at all of her making a video post about this.
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u/MydnightWN 11m ago
You have to click through, follow the links. More to the story than just a Reddit headline of an AI summary bot that was 5 days late covering a TikTok that was itself 4 days later than the actual news.
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u/ex0thermist 5m ago
I clicked through to the Inc.com article, which makes no mention of the fired woman posting about her firing to TikTok. If you see otherwise feel free to share it.
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u/SirkutBored 7h ago edited 6h ago
If you allow a company to have this much oversight (and so little trust) then it's not all on the company.
Edit to add: all I see in these downvotes is a bunch of people who feel they have no choice but to put up with these conditions. It is not normal nor should these activities be normalized.
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u/jackloganoliver 7h ago
The job market isn't so hot right now. I can understand how people feel pressured to accept something like this, especially if they don't have a ton of savings.
Like, I agree with your sentiment, so don't take this as a criticism, but I also empatheticly understand how someone might feel like they didn't have a choice. Anxiety is like that.
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u/SirkutBored 6h ago
As someone who is looking for another IT role and has been longer than I'm willing to admit I totally get that point of view. And yet, the salary it would take for me to put up with that much intrusion...let's just say I'd rather work in an office and be able to step away from my desk more easily and for less money. I don't like the idea of having to get permission to refill a drink or empty a bladder whether that's a factory role or corporate one so I'd rather not work for a company that can't or won't show respect.
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u/jackloganoliver 5h ago edited 2h ago
Yeah, and I mean, that's you and your situation. For me and my partner, we'd laugh at them and walk away from that job too. I 100% agree with you.
But me and my partner are also two men, have no children, and we aggressively saved along the way, we have no debt, we have passive income, etc. Our situation allows that comfort and peace of mind.
We are very very very very very fortunate to be able to not put up with bull.
Most people don't have that luxury. Most people are closer to broke than financially secure, and that anxiety is a strong motivator to put to with professional abuse like this. Many more people are desperate for employer provided health insurance too, and it's been documented how much that motivates people to put up with this abuse as well.
Though, to be clear, screw that company.
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u/Austin1975 3h ago
In the U.S. enough employees have been brainwashed that unions won’t work and therefore they think that we have no power. So they disagree. And these people are the bystanders who will say over and over “what can you do?” And throw their hands up. And then when/if enough people standup then some of these bystanders will join that movement. And then if change happens the rest of these bystanders will go with the flow and enjoy the benefits of the change they never had the courage to even think about organizing for in the first place. Bystanders have never made anything great.
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u/spribyl 6h ago
You must be self employed. The moder work place is full of cameras, screen shots, microphones, and gps tracking. They are always watching
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u/SirkutBored 6h ago edited 5h ago
My last gig for a major corporation (Fortune 10) did not utilize any of that. I worked remotely from wherever I happened to be in the country at that time.
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u/standardtissue 5h ago
How fucked up of a company do you have to be that you have to monitor your employees constantly. You can't hire right ? You can't train right ? You can't incentivize right ? You can't create autonomy and enablement ? Yet I bet the management all call themselves "leadership".