The real danger artificial intelligence poses to work is not job loss but growing inequality. A divide is emerging between people who use AI to extend skills and those controlled by surveillance, according to recent media analysis.
For some workers, AI removes drudgery from daily tasks according to the analysis. These are often people in better-paid, higher-autonomy roles including analysts, consultants, lawyers, academics, and managers. However, for many others AI is not an assistant but a boss that watches and controls.
A third of UK employers already use bossware technology to monitor workers’ online activity according to recent data. AI appears in scheduling and monitoring tools, route optimization software, and automated performance dashboards. Consequently, these systems decide who gets shifts, how long tasks should take, and whether performance meets capacity.
Amazon software engineers say they face surveillance and pressure to use AI for productivity gains. Meanwhile, Meta plans to track and capture employee keystrokes, mouse movements, and clicks to train AI models. Furthermore, algorithmic management methods honed in warehouses and delivery vans are spreading to corporate headquarters and hospitals.
Pakistani office spaces remain largely insulated from advanced AI surveillance systems currently used in Western workplaces. However, multinational corporations operating in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad are likely to adopt similar monitoring technologies. As a result, call centers, business process outsourcing firms, and software houses may face increased algorithmic management pressure. The lack of comprehensive data protection laws in Pakistan could make workers more vulnerable to surveillance expansion.
Research cited in the 2024 White House economic report suggests the pressing issue is not mass unemployment. The widening gap in skills, autonomy, and wellbeing between those working with AI versus managed by it matters most. When every click, step, call, or pause can be measured by unseen systems, the effect is stress. This is not just a technical problem but a social, political, and moral one.
