Good Intentions, Bad Inventions: How Employees Judge Pervasive Technologies in the Workplace

Pervasive technologies combined with powerful AI have been recently introduced to enhance work productivity. Yet, some of these technologies are judged to be invasive. To identify which ones, we should understand how employees tend to judge these technologies. We considered 16 technologies that track productivity, and conducted a study in which 131 crowdworkers judged these scenarios. We found that a technology was judged to be right depending on the following three aspects of increasing importance. That is, whether the technology: 1) was currently supported by existing tools; 2) did not interfere with work or was fit for purpose; and 3) did not cause any harm or did not infringe on any individual rights. Ubicomp research currently focuses on how to design better technologies by making them more accurate, or by increasingly blending them into the background. It might be time to design better ubiquitous technologies by unpacking AI ethics as well.

Automated summary

Powerful AI combined with pervasive technologies has been introduced to enhance work productivity, but some of these technologies are considered invasive. To determine which ones are invasive, understanding how employees judge these technologies is important. We analyzed 16 productivity-tracking technologies and conducted a study in which 131 crowdworkers evaluated these scenarios. We found that the judgment of a technology depended on three aspects of increasing importance: 1) existing tool support, 2) lack of interference with work or purpose fit, and 3) no harm or infringement on individual rights. Ubicomp research currently focuses on designing better technologies through improved accuracy and integration into the background, but it may be time to also unpack AI ethics for better ubiquitous technology design.