MetLife insurance giant is a good example of the process of applying artificial intelligence (AI) to work. But instead of doing everything, AI becomes an employee monitoring tool.
Conor Sprouls and many others must constantly look at the screen every time they call customers. You will be directed to each “step of the way”.
Conor Sprouls works at MetLife Insurance Group.
The program can measure Conor Sprouls’ speed, voice expression, or customer service attitude, thereby giving commensurate warning icons.
Over the years, we only take one day of robots to replace people in factories and factories. But more frightening, AI can make a “boss” monitor employees, issue a rating and decide to quit. That will be the new boss in the technological age.
Conor Sprouls and other employees still work with “flesh and blood” bosses. But they were also monitored by machines. Product created by Cogito, AI company in Boston. After each call, the system will add reminder messages to the supervisor’s work table.
Joshua Feast, Managing Director of Cogito, said the purpose of this activity is to help employees achieve higher performance through real-time suggestions. The company currently has 20,000 customers in all fields, from insurance and finance to retail.
“Everyone’s performance is always unstable. We can make suggestions based on an assessment of how employees communicate with customers, ”Feast said.
The purpose of automation is to optimize every aspect of the work. Now, AI sees people as the object to be optimized.
Cogito’s application will monitor every employee’s gestures.
More and more “bosses” AI
Recently, The Verge discovered that Amazon uses algorithms to track worker productivity. They also automatically decided to fire anyone who had a low score. The company reassured public opinion when affirming the issue of personnel not only based entirely on machines but also human factors involved.
Similarly, IBM uses a platform called Watson to beat employees, thereby predicting future performance. They claim, the AI has an accurate rate of up to 96%.
Algorithm management is not a new concept. In the early twentieth century, American mechanical engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor created a revolution to improve labor productivity around the world. He helps factories optimize everything by quantifying each aspect of the job. Frederick is called the father of “scientific management” theory.
Aaron Osei, another employee at MetLife’s customer care center.
Recently, Uber, Lyft and other platforms have made billions of dollars by using computers to replace people in jobs like planning, payroll or performance evaluation.
Controversy about AI in monitoring work
However, using AI to monitor workers is controversial. Critics say the system lacks sympathy, so it does not understand the sentiment of employees leading to sudden decisions.
“It is absurd that companies can lay off employees without relying on human factors,” said Marc Perrone, chairman of the International Federation of Food and Trade Federation.
In a free economy, human resource management by algorithms can generate new conflicts. It is between employees and the platform that connects them with customers. Recently, employees of delivery services such as Postmates and DoorDash stood up against the system’s lack of transparency in the payroll method.
The staff at MetLife’s customer care center, despite not protesting against the “boss” AI, also have mixed opinions. In response to the New York Times , some employees said the Cogito software was like a new form of torture. They expect the company to stop this “monitoring” activity immediately.
MetLife is using AI to monitor 1,500 employees at the customer care department.
Cogito always insists that AI is just trying to help employees control their mood better. MetLife said the software has increased customer satisfaction by 13%. They currently have 1,500 employees at the customer care center.
The AI protection group offers completely different arguments. They believe that the computer system will eliminate the overbearing status of superiors, and better support employees. The software reminds small details such as thanking customers, improving their voices or avoiding depressed psychology.
Another idea is that AI will not be biased when making decisions, such as recruitment issues. Pymetrics, a startup in New York, tested it by replacing the screening process with AI. The program uses a series of specific criteria to test candidate skills and provide the most fair recruitment results.
Using artificial intelligence to fix human defects is a great idea. But company leaders can become more authoritarian in monitoring employees. Is the world facing the rise of robots?