Co-op Legal Services Uses AI to Score 50-Point Customer Calls as Staff Decry Surveillance
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Oct 8
Co-op Legal Services Uses AI to Score 50-Point Customer Calls as Staff Decry Surveillance
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Oct 8
Summary
Dozens of Co-op Legal Services staff have been monitored for the past couple of months by AI that records, analyzes and assigns percentage pass-fail scores to customer calls about probate, wills and estates.
An OpenAI-based model assesses more than 50 aspects of each conversation, with managers using the results for quality assurance, coaching and partly to identify ways advisers can improve sales performance.
Workers said the system can track several hours of calls a day and creates distrust, especially during sensitive conversations with recently bereaved customers; the Communication Workers Union said AI should not become employees' manager.
Co-op said the tool is only a support system, not a decision-maker, and helps review all conversations more efficiently while keeping human judgment and accountability at the center.
The rollout adds to wider pushback over AI workplace surveillance after Multiverse monitored online classes, Burger King adopted similar tracking in the US, and the ILO warned this year of stress and other psychosocial risks.