Investigations
Mae Ryan scored 65 percent on a bossware self-test
She ran the self-test while Meta paused a keystroke program that more than 1,800 employees had petitioned against.
More Perfect Union host Mae Ryan downloaded remote-worker surveillance software onto her company laptop to see how AI-backed bossware scores office work. The program photographed her at her desk, flagged arbitrary rule breaks, and rated her productivity at 65%. More Perfect Union posted her findings on Oct. 19, 2026.
Ryan said the tool counted research on bossware itself as unproductive time, alongside call-center webinars and phone calls that were part of her job. A sales demo for a product called Insightful tied low-performer lists to productivity trends and told her employers could install the software without workers knowing.
Sherri Shaw, a Kaiser Permanente triage nurse with 28 years on the job, said managers watched call times and cap patient calls at 13 minutes. An emotion-AI pilot told her tone sounded wrong. Kaiser said it does not use those metrics for performance. Shaw's calls are processed through Nexidia software from NiCE, which also markets AI agents for call centers. NiCE did not respond to a comment request.
Tech labor organizer Clarissa Redwine said Meta announced mass layoffs before telling staff about the Model Capability Initiative, which recorded keystrokes, mouse movement, and screen content to train AI models. Meta rolled out MCI in April 2026 and paused it in June after workers petitioned and an internal security flaw exposed collected data company-wide.
Meta laid off about 8,000 workers on May 20, 2026. Twenty-six employees later sued, alleging AI-assisted productivity scoring and ranking singled out workers who took medical or parental leave. Meta said organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI.
Ryan read terms of service for the bossware on her machine and found vague language on where data went. Researcher Samantha Gordon cited studies showing some vendors share employer-collected worker data with advertisers and brokers. After Spirit Airlines went bankrupt, Google paid about $10 million for decades of corporate records it said would train AI models.
Gordon worked on California legislation, including a failed bill that would have barred using worker data to train AI replacements. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 947, known as the No Robo Bosses Act, which blocks employers from relying solely on automated systems to discipline or fire workers when it takes effect July 1, 2027. California also restricted emotion AI used in programs like Shaw's pilot.
Ryan removed the monitoring software from her laptop after weeks of productivity alerts and opaque scores. Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton said the company paused MCI while it investigated and had no indication staff improperly accessed data.
Source video: I Used AI To Surveil Myself At Work. What It Can See Will Disturb You.