Hi John,

Last week, a piece in Protocol broke the news that Zoom is testing AI software that claims to analyze people’s emotions on video calls.¹ Over the last two years of the pandemic, we have all gotten very familiar with Zoom. We use it all the time for work, school, and keeping up with friends and family. We can't let Zoom implement this dangerous technology, mine us for emotional data points and sell this so that they can monitor and manipulate us for profit.

Experts have said that measuring emotions does not work as well as Big Tech tells us. Facial expressions do not accurately reveal our feelings and artificial intelligence misreads human emotions.² So, why is Zoom building a feature based on this pseudoscience? Is it worth risking their reputation and place as an industry leader? Sign our petition and tell Zoom to cancel this feature.

Zoom describes this emotional surveillance tool as a way for businesses to hone their sales pitch by tracking how the person on the other side of the screen is feeling.³ This is manipulative and a major breach of user trust. And if Zoom continues to build out this technology, it will ultimately be sold to others - schools, employers and others who want to track us. Imagine teachers tracking students' emotional response or employers tracking workers. It is not hard to imagine how this could result in people being disciplined for how AI assumes they're feeling.

We think that Zoom can do better. They have changed their mind about blocking free users from their encrypted service and even canceled face-tracking features before.⁴ ⁵This is another chance for them to show that they care about the privacy and happiness of their users. Sign our petition here and spread the word to other Zoom users you know.

Let’s get Zoom to make this important change,

Caitlin at ❤️Fight

Footnotes:

Fight for the Future works to protect your rights in the digital age.