Optifye.ai, an AI startup by Indian founders has sparked global outrage over using AI software for workplace surveillance. The firm’s video demo, showcasing an AI system monitoring factory workers' efficiency in real-time, was met with widespread backlash.
The video, posted by the company, showed the two founders role-playing as factory supervisors using their software, which evoked accusations of promoting exploitative labour practices. Social media users have labelled it "dystopian" and "dehumanizing."
About Optifye.ai
Founded by Vivaan Baid and Kushal Mohta and backed by American technology startup, Y Combinator LLC, Optifye.ai provides AI-powered solutions to transform the manufacturing process in industries.
The startup functions by providing computer vision technology to monitor workers on assembly lines and generate productivity data for factory managers.
The AI startup's controversial video
The controversial demo showed Baid identifying an underperforming worker and reprimanding him for inefficiency.
"You haven’t hit your hourly output even once today,” Baid was seen commenting in the clip.
Reviewing the worker’s past performance, the supervisor said, “Rough day? More like a rough month.”
After watching the clip, netizens have accused the startup of ‘dehumanizing’ workers.
Vedant Nair, an entrepreneur who once worked at Y Combinator, remarked that although the demo was "bad taste," equivalent technology is in use in factories all over the world.
Intercom CEO Eoghan McCabe said those criticizing should change their stance if they are still buying goods produced in India and China where employee-monitoring systems are common practice.
The Optifye.ai co-founders both attended Duke University with a background in manufacturing studies.
Meanwhile, the startup founders claimed they were inspired to create the software based on their experiences with family-run manufacturing businesses. They wanted to address challenges related to labour productivity by providing factory managers with precise, real-time data on worker performance.
Baid shared on the company's Y Combinator profile page, “My family has been running a manufacturing company since before I was born. I've been around assembly lines for as long as I can remember.”
Mohta remarked, “My family also runs several manufacturing plants in various industries, which has given me unrestricted access to assembly lines since I was 15.”
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