Microsoft Wants To Monitor Your Workplace With AI, Computer Vision and the Cloud (gizmodo.com)

"If you're an employee under the heel of a giant corporation you should probably be terrified by the vision of the future of connected gadgets that Microsoft just revealed at its Build developer conference here in Seattle," warns Gizmodo. Slashdot reader dryriver writes: Gizmodo reports on a Microsoft Workplace Monitoring demo where CCTV cameras watch a workplace -- like a construction site -- on 24/7 basis, and AI algorithms constantly oversee and evaluate what is happening in that workplace. The system can track where employees are, where physical equipment and tools are at what time, who does what at what time in this workplace and apparently use Cloud-based AI of some sort to evaluate what is happening in the workplace being monitored. Spotting employees misbehaving, breaking workplace rules or putting themselves and expensive equipment at risk may be the intended "value proposition" this system brings to the workplace. Another aspect may be reducing insurance premiums employers pay by creating a strict, highly monitored work environment. But the system is also very Big Brother -- an AI is monitoring people and equipment in a workplace in realtime at all times, and all the data ends up being processed in the Microsoft Cloud.
Gizmodo gave their article the title, "Microsoft's Latest Workplace Tech Demos Creep Me Out."

Comments

The fine art of bashing Microsoft

[lucm]

Giving up your privacy is ok, as long as it does not involve Microsoft.

Asking consumers to give their data to a big faceless corporation like Google so it can sell ads is one thing—but asking them to also give all that data to the people who sign their checks is another.

Re:Microsoft Executives - Eat Your Own Dog Food

[thegarbz]

Given Microsoft's track record

Track record of what? Please tell us how many times Microsoft's servers containing data have been breached and corporate data leaked? Tell me about all those breaches that have happened on their Azure cloud, and on OneDrive. I'm keen to know.

Now given the track record of *people*, of *users*, yeah this may not be a good idea. But senseless Microsoft bashing is just that, senseless. Unless you can come up with some information about how horrible their track record actually is.