A video showing AI monitoring workers and exploiting them like slaves is so dystopian it causes a huge uproar



Optifye.ai, a startup backed by venture capital firm Y Combinator, is developing a system that uses AI to monitor the performance of factory workers. Y Combinator released a demo video of the system on social media, but it was heavily criticized and the company withdrew the video.

Y Combinator deletes posts after a startup's demo goes viral | TechCrunch

https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/25/y-combinator-deletes-posts-after-a-startups-demo-goes-viral/

AI for sweatshops? YC startup flamed for deleted product demo
https://sfstandard.com/2025/02/25/ycombinator-startups-surveillance-backlash-garrytan/

Y Combinator Supports AI Startup Dehumanizing Factory Workers
https://www.404media.co/optifyeai-ycombinator-startup-ai-factory/

Y Combinator deletes video promoting AI factory worker monitoring startup - San Francisco Business Times
https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2025/02/25/y-combinator-deletes-ai-video-optifyeai.html

Y Combinator backtracks from controversial AI factory surveillance startup - Gazetteer SF
https://sf.gazetteer.co/y-combinator-backtracks-from-controversial-ai-factory-surveillance-startup

Optifye.ai is a startup founded by Kushal Mohta and Vivaan Baid, computer science majors at Duke University. Both Mohta and Baid have families in India who run manufacturing businesses, and they have been exposed to factory production lines since they were young. Mohta said, 'My family runs multiple manufacturing plants in various industries, and I had unlimited access to production lines from the age of 15.'

Optifye.ai is developing a system that combines AI and surveillance cameras to track the performance of factory workers in real time. AI-enabled cameras installed on the production line monitor the movements of factory workers and notify the site manager in real time who is working and who is not. Mohta and Baid argued that this system will help solve the biggest problem facing manufacturing plants: declining labor productivity, and eliminate the need to rely on production managers.

On February 25, 2025, Y Combinator posted a demo video of the system developed by Optifye.ai on its official X (formerly Twitter) account and LinkedIn account. This video was released for the purpose of introducing startups participating in Y Combinator's 2025 Winter Support Program.

YC Sweatshop AI Tracking startup || YCombinator || Optifye.ai - YouTube


The factory manager (played by Mr. Mohta) looks at the system screen and notices that the efficiency of the factory's line 6 has fallen to 37%.



The factory manager immediately contacts the site supervisor (played by Mr. Baid).



When the site supervisor checked the system, the AI inferred from security camera footage in the factory that worker number 17 on line 6 was the one holding things back.



In response to this speculation, the site supervisor called out, 'Number 17! What's wrong?' Worker number 17 replied, 'I've been working all day.'



However, when the system was checked, it was found that the hourly production volume was not reaching the quota, and the efficiency was only 11.4%. Therefore, the site supervisor warned, 'You worked all day? That's bad.'



In response to this video, a flood of users on social media, especially on X, criticized the company, saying things like 'SaaS (Sweatshops-as-a-Service), '' Software that exploits people with computer vision ,' and 'This is literally an exploitative tool designed to squeeze every last drop out of workers .' In addition, comments criticizing Optifye.ai's system were also posted on Hacker News , a social news site run by Y Combinator.

Criticism has also come from the technology industry and investors. Hank Medina, founder of venture capital firm Litquidity and a well-known influencer, commented, 'Without a doubt, the first company to stand out in Y Combinator's investment program was Optifye.ai, which has developed an AI platform to optimize the productivity of exploitative and slave labor.'



Following the backlash, Y Combinator removed the posts containing the demo footage from X and LinkedIn, but the footage has already been saved by multiple accounts and shared across social media.

TechCrunch and other media outlets have reached out to both Ycombinator and Optifye.ai for comment, but have not received a response.

Related Posts:

in Software,   Web Service,   Video, Posted by log1i_yk