A growing fault line is emerging in the workplace: employees who use AI to augment their skills and those increasingly managed by it. Rather than mass job losses, the more immediate risk is algorithmic surveillance and control—through scheduling software, productivity dashboards and monitoring tools—that compress autonomy and raise stress, especially in lower-paid roles across warehousing, logistics, retail and gig work. Companies tout productivity gains, yet many underinvest in training and governance, widening disparities in skills and dignity at work. Recent scrutiny of monitoring practices at major firms, alongside new AI deployments, underscores the need for transparent, contestable systems and worker input. The piece argues that choices made at the enterprise level—how AI is introduced, governed and overseen—will determine whether the technology broadens opportunity or entrenches inequities across the labor market.
Related article:
– How Amazon automatically tracks and fires warehouse workers for ‘productivity’
