‘Dystopian’: Co-op becomes latest firm to put staff under AI surveillance; The Guardian, October 8, 2026

 Robert Booth, The Guardian; ‘Dystopian’: Co-op becomes latest firm to put staff under AI surveillance

"The Co-op has become the latest employer to place workers under AI surveillance with an automated listening technology that rates every phone call some of them make to customers.

In a system described as “oppressive and dystopian” by a whistleblower, Co-op Legal Services is using AI models to record, analyse and award a percentage score for interactions between agents and customers seeking advice about probate, wills and estates...

“You are being watched,” said a Co-op worker who spoke to the Guardian on condition of anonymity and said the AI created a sense of distrust. “It’s different from occasionally being listened to for compliance purposes. [You are] being monitored absolutely every word that you say and every time that you utter something … It just feels really dystopian. It’s the thin end of the wedge.”"

Flock camera backlash adds fuel to midterm anti-AI frenzy; Axios, August 23, 2026

 

• Andrew Solender, Axios; 

  Flock camera backlash adds fuel to midterm anti-AI frenzy

"Flock cameras are joining data centers as a top midterm boogeyman, with members of Congress and congressional candidates trying to harness a sudden groundswell of grassroots anger over the AI surveillance tool.

Why it matters: This blowup over the country's massive network of license plate readers illustrates how rapidly AI has morphed from a peripheral issue in national politics toward the center of the midterm campaign.

Data centers have become a major issue in the midterms, with candidates racing to one-up each other in their opposition to building the energy-hungry facilities.

Super PACs affiliated with AI companies have also spent tens of millions of dollars clashing with each other in congressional elections over the degree to which the federal government should regulate the technology.

Now, surveillance cameras are opening a new front in the debate over AI.

Driving the news: Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, posted a video to X Wednesday tying his Republican opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers, to Flock cameras.

"There's been this mass proliferation of Flock cameras, any and everywhere, watching your every move to collect information without you even noticing," El-Sayed says with the '80s tune "Somebody's Watching Me" playing in the background.

El-Sayed accuses Rogers of supporting the practice, citing a 2013 hearing in which the then-House Intelligence Committee chair said: "You can't have your privacy violated if you don't know your privacy is violated, right?"

The Rogers campaign did not respond to a request for comment."