Key facts
- Co-op Legal Services is using AI to record and score customer phone calls.
- The AI system assesses over 50 aspects of each interaction.
- Workers report being monitored by AI for several hours daily.
- The system is used to analyze employee performance and identify sales improvements.
- Co-op states the AI is a support tool for quality assurance and colleague development.
Co-op Legal Services has introduced an AI system that records and analyzes customer phone calls, assigning scores to employees based on their interactions. The technology, powered by OpenAI models, evaluates more than 50 specific elements of each call, providing managers with data to assess employee performance and identify areas for sales improvement.
Whistleblowers and some employees have criticized the system, with one worker describing it as "oppressive and dystopian" and expressing concerns about constant AI surveillance. They feel it creates distrust and intensifies working lives.
In response, Co-op stated that the AI is a support tool for quality assurance, helping to ensure clients receive empathetic and expert guidance. The company claims its probate advisers are highly engaged and that the AI enables more informed support, coaching, and development for colleagues, while human judgment remains central.
This development follows similar instances of increased AI monitoring in workplaces. Last week, Euan Blair's AI training company, Multiverse, was reported to be using AI for blanket monitoring of online classroom sessions. Experts have voiced broader concerns that escalating AI monitoring risks increasing worker stress and diminishing sensible workplace practices.
Trade unions are beginning to push back against AI monitoring. The Communication Workers Union's national officer, John Chadfield, argued that "unaccountable computer systems should not be people’s managers." The International Labour Organization has also warned about the "psychosocial" risks of AI monitoring in workplaces, noting that AI systems are being deployed without a comprehensive regulatory framework.