Uber's call centre company wants to spy on workers with AI cameras
Employees who refuse to sign new contract risk losing their jobs
Teleperformance, a call centre company working with Uber, Apple and Amazon, is installing AI-powered cameras at employees' homes to observe and record their workspaces, according to an investigation by NBC News.
Six Teleperformance workers based in Colombia told NBC they are being pressured to sign a new, non-negotiable contract that grants their employer the right to install cameras in their homes, for monitoring purpose.
Employees who refuse to sign have been warned they may lose their jobs.
The use of the cameras is not limited to Colombia: Teleperformance, a French firm, operates in 80 countries around the world.
The contract, first issued in March, requires workers to agree to share their biometric data like photos and fingerprints. They must also share video streams from the camera.
Employees said they were concerned about the contract, which enables Teleperformance to monitor them in real-time. The AI-based system also scans the entire room for objects like smartphones, paper and other items, in accordance with the firm's 'Clean Desk Policy'.
A clause in the contract also requires employees to agree to (notoriously unreliable) polygraph tests, if requested.
"The contract allows constant monitoring of what we are doing, but also our family," said a worker on the Apple account who was not authorised to speak to the news media.
"I think it's really bad. We don't work in an office. I work in my bedroom. I don't want to have a camera in my bedroom."
Teleperformance has a workforce of around 380,000 people in more than 80 countries. The company's website says it 'integrates advanced technology with a human touch' to offer 'remarkable' experiences to customers.
Teleperformance spokesperson Mark Pfeiffer told NBC that the new contract is meant to "[ensure] data security compliance, since many employees have access to sensitive client data during work." He added that "privacy and respect" are "key factors in everything" they do.
Apple and Amazon said they did not ask Teleperformance to monitor employees working on their projects.
Apple spokesperson Nick Leahy said that the company "prohibits the use of video or photographic monitoring by our suppliers, and have confirmed Teleperformance does not use video monitoring for any of their teams working with Apple".
Uber acknowledged that it uses camera monitoring services from Teleperformance to ensure that only authorised workers access sensitive customer data, and that screen data is not being recorded.
The company does not require any additional monitoring, the spokesperson added.