Report: Little Tech Goes Global: The Expansion of AI and Workplace Surveillance
JUNE 3, 2025 | TEAM COWORKER
Forget Big Brother. It’s the startups silently watching workers now.
As artificial intelligence reshapes the future of work, a new form of digital oversight is spreading quietly and rapidly across the globe—not from Big Tech, but from a sprawling network of lesser-known startups, regional vendors, and HR software providers. Little Tech Goes Global: The Expansion of AI and Workplace Surveillance, a new report by Coworker.org, exposes how this "Little Tech" ecosystem is embedding surveillance and algorithmic control into the daily lives of workers—often without their knowledge, consent, or protection.
Building on our 2020 research, this report maps the global rise of algorithmic management across six countries—Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Nigeria, Kenya, and India—where legal frameworks are either outdated, poorly enforced, or nonexistent. From gig workers tracked through facial recognition and GPS to sanitation workers fined for resting while wearing “wellness” devices, the report reveals how venture capital-backed startups are exporting surveillance tech to the Global South, targeting regions with weaker privacy protections and regulatory oversight.
This is not a far-off problem. It’s happening now—in your city, your job, and perhaps your own devices.
Little Tech
Goes Global
The expansion of AI and workplace surveillance
Published by Wilneida Negrón, Coworker.org
Contributors: Fabricio Barili, Celso Bessa, Ayden Férdeline, Gurshabad Grover, Chukwuyere Ebere Izuogu, Vidushi Marda, Mariel Garcia-Montes, Oarabile Mudongo, Wilneida Negrón, PhD
Key Findings:
- The Rise of "Little Tech": Small startups and SaaS vendors—often backed by Silicon Valley venture capital—are leading the charge in AI-powered workplace surveillance, embedding tracking tools into everyday HR and productivity software.
- Global Surge, Local Collapse: While countries like Brazil, Mexico, and India have privacy laws on paper, enforcement is weak, allowing both domestic and foreign vendors to deploy invasive technologies unchecked.
- Gig Workers as Guinea Pigs: Gig economy workers in sectors like delivery and rideshare are the frontline subjects of AI surveillance, subjected to real-time tracking, biometric scans, and even models that predict union activity.
- Surveillance Disguised as Care: AI surveillance is increasingly framed as a tool for safety, wellness, and productivity—masking coercive oversight in the language of health and efficiency.
- Privacy Theater: Many vendors offer copy-paste privacy notices while quietly retaining worker data indefinitely. In countries like Mexico and Colombia, some companies even conduct home visits and collect data on workers' families.
- Workers are Fighting Back: From sanitation workers in India to ride-hail drivers in Nigeria, workers are resisting algorithmic control—organizing protests, forming unions, and demanding AI transparency.
Why it matters
This report pulls back the curtain on a global system that treats workers as data points to be optimized, not people with dignity and rights. While AI and surveillance technology promise efficiency, they often deepen inequality, exacerbate precarity, and undermine fundamental rights—especially in the Global South.
Workers, policymakers, and advocates must act now to ensure that technological progress doesn't come at the cost of worker autonomy, privacy, and fairness. The findings demand stronger enforcement of privacy protections, transparency in algorithmic decision-making, and a global reckoning with the unchecked growth of surveillance capitalism.