Xsolla fired 150 employees using AI and big data analysis to monitor their productivity across various workplace software platforms without their knowledge, causing controversy over workplace surveillance and employee privacy violations.
In August 2021, Russian payment services company Xsolla fired 150 employees from their Perm office based on AI and big data analysis of employee activities. CEO Aleksandr Agapitov sent an email to terminated employees stating that his 'big data team analyzed your activities in Jira, Confluence, Gmail, chats, documents, dashboards and tagged you as unengaged and unproductive employees.' The employees were unaware their activities were being tracked by data collection AI. The email was leaked on August 3, 2021, and its authenticity was confirmed by local outlets and the company. Agapitov later explained in a press conference that layoffs were due to the company no longer showing 40% growth, and that up to 40% of total company headcount across all offices could be affected. Following the press conference, he posted a controversial tweet roughly translating to 'Work your fucking ass off or get your fucking ass out.' The incident sparked backlash for secretly monitoring employees and using AI to make termination decisions. HR expert Alyona Vladimirskaya criticized measuring performance by network engagement rather than work results as 'outdated and extremely ineffective' and advised fired employees to sue. The 150 terminated employees received compensation packages equal to four to six monthly salaries and medical insurance.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
AI systems that memorize and leak sensitive personal data or infer private information about individuals without their consent. Unexpected or unauthorized sharing of data and information can compromise user expectation of privacy, assist identity theft, or cause loss of confidential intellectual property.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed