When did we stop asking if it was acceptable to record someone? Moreover, when did you last feel comfortable saying “please don’t” when everyone else had nodded mindlessly?
With the exponential growth of AI in our workplace, I am hearing regularly, “Oh, I am trying out this new bit of transcribing AI, so will be recording this meeting”, or suchlike. Our consent or otherwise is not even an afterthought.
It shouldn’t matter that AI captures every word. It shouldn’t matter that it will capture the unspoken sentiment in our tone; yet it might. Even the fastest human note-writer will be unable to transcribe every, single syllable, but we are suddenly presented with the possibility of every sotto voce remark being shared more widely than intended. We should still have a voice about being recorded, especially given AI’s more malevolent ability to clone from a single phrase of just three seconds…
There is, in fact, still a legal requirement in the UK to secure a person’s consent to record them at work, not only by telling them your specific purpose but also preferably in writing. That consent, if obtained, is only valid for that one event, not in perpetuity. This is a grey and stormy area, though, as more and more are tending to record meetings. We are being bagged and tagged whichever way we turn.
If you are recording a Zoom, Teams, Google Meet etc, you are not only netting our voices, but you have our facial expressions and gestures on tape and on tap. Any fans of #aviewfromthebridge may have seen Elijah’s exposition on being filmed all the time by complete strangers. We have become so attuned to being on camera that, maybe the various indigenous people are right, by being filmed and recorded we are perhaps giving away our souls: “losing our energy”.
Enough mad rant, though, this is meant to be a way of saying, as we are, apparently, the fourth most filmed/recorded country in the world, wouldn’t it be nice to have a bit of a reprieve and just listen for a while?
Over and out.