Amazon employees are going to be monitored by AI algorithms again!

Amazon plans to monitor its employees ' keyboard and mouse usage habits to prevent customer data leaks for a variety of reasons , according to an internal company document obtained by Motherboard .

Amazon will use an algorithmic tool provided by BehavioSec, which does not rely on personally identifiable information or other static data . It uses "biometric behavioral recognition technology " to generate a profile of a user's typing and computer usage habits . The algorithm then uses the profile to monitor whether an employee is operating the device and to detect hackers or imposters with bad intentions in a timely manner.

According to the editor, in addition to Amazon, Cisco and Deutsche   Telekom ( Cisco and Deutsche Telekom ) have both chosen its services .

Amazon claims that it needs such software to combat various security threats and said : "We have security vulnerabilities because we do not have a reliable mechanism to verify the identity of our employees . " It is reported that Amazon 's security team has previously discovered four cases in which unrelated personnel impersonated employees to access company data.

As more employees work remotely due to the pandemic , the risk of data breaches has increased . Amazon proposed several hypothetical scenarios where using the service could avoid risks , such as employees forgetting to lock their computers and employees' roommates stealing company data .

AI algorithm monitoring has existed for a long time, with both advantages and disadvantages

According to the editor, as early as 2019, Amazon built an AI system internally that can track the work efficiency of every employee in the logistics and warehousing department and count the "slacking time" of each employee. 74% of Amazon warehouse employees dare not go to the toilet normally because it takes too much time.

Later, it also launched the application "Mentor", which constantly monitors the driver's driving, phone use and location, and provides feedback scores to the delivery company as a reference for evaluating the driver's performance. Thanks to this algorithm, many Amazon drivers with many years of experience have been "unreasonably" fired.

In fact, there are many examples of using AI algorithms for employee monitoring. According to statistics, as early as 2018, 22% of companies around the world used AI to monitor employee activity data, 17% of companies monitored employees' computer usage, and 16% of companies monitored employees' emails.

Using AI to monitor employees may achieve the desired effect to a certain extent. However, we also hope that while companies continue to explore and test new methods to protect customer data , they can also solve the problems of pressure on employees, personal privacy, and system misjudgment caused by related measures.

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