Roemmich: Emotion AI is being used to surveil workers. What does it mean for you?

As the development of artificial intelligence technologies accelerates, workers are facing increasing threats to their privacy, leaving experts concerned: How are the machines being taught and what steps are being taken to protect worker rights and integrity? 

University of Michigan School of Information doctoral student Kat Roemmich, an expert on emotion AI, talked with Business Insider about the use of this technology. 

Emotional information can be gathered by "analyzing data that [companies] already collect as part of existing monitoring and surveillance programs," Roemmich says, meaning companies can tack emotion AI onto existing surveillance programs without alerting employees.

Companies like Amazon, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan haven’t been eager to convey the use of emotion AI in the workplace. Questions of racial bias and cultural misunderstandings are also tricky, revealing the vulnerability of these programs and how they’ll be used against workers.  

"It's a sticking point for me," Roemmich says. "If we can't get the framing of the debates right and the foundational issues, then, as we're already seeing, practitioners that use emotionality are going to disregard it."

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Read “The creepy AI-driven surveillance that may be infiltrating your workplace” on Business Insider. 

Learn more about Kat Roemmich and her research publications by visiting her UMSI profile. Roemmich has published several papers on emotion AI. Her paper “Data Subjects’ Perspectives on Emotion Artificial Intelligence Use in the Workplace: A Relational Ethics Lens” earned a best paper award at the 2023 ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). 

Apply to UMSI’s PhD in Information program today.