Our organization is beginning to implement tools that use AI to monitor and engage with employees and customers. Are there any areas of concern as we move forward with this venture?

In short, yes. Employers are increasingly turning to AI-powered tools to improve customer and employee experiences. Users are becoming more comfortable with voice-activated technology, and the use of voice-activated shopping apps is expected to increase. As an example, a major fast food chain is implementing a chat bot to serve as the primary order taker. These technologies have the promise of providing interactive and tailored customer and employee experiences, but come with some risks. 

When implementing these technologies, companies need to be aware of biometric privacy laws that exist or are emerging in several US jurisdictions. For example, Illinois adopted the Biometric Information Privacy Act in 2008, and since then, businesses have faced continual waves of class action lawsuits involving a variety of different technologies. As biometric privacy laws expand, it will remain important to understand the legal compliance environment when adopting tools that involve voice recognition or rely on other biometric identifiers.

Wearable tech and mobile apps are also becoming prevalent tools to assist employees in performing their jobs. Mobile apps can provide employees with immediate access to the location or availability of a product, and wearables can be used to more quickly deliver information to employees. Apps and wearables are also capable of capturing data and measuring aspects of an employee's performance. When deploying these types of applications, however, it is critical to evaluate the type of data the business intends to collect, how it intends to use the data and compliance risks such as biometric privacy laws.

It is also important to consider possible risks of unintended uses of the data collected, data retention and data security. We can't have this current and relevant discussion without mentioning generative AI, which of course is a subject onto itself. For more information on deploying technology in a legally compliant way to transform the workplace, please reach out to your Littler attorney.