Microsoft files patent to record and score meetings on body language

Technology giant Microsoft has filed a patent for a system to monitor employees’ body language and facial expressions during work meetings and give the events a “quality score”.

A filing suggests it could be deployed in real-world meetings or online virtual get-togethers.

It envisions rooms being packed with sensors to monitor the participants, which could raise privacy concerns.

Microsoft is already under fire over a separate “productivity-score” tool.

‘Employee-surveillance tool’

That feature was introduced last year but came to prominence only after a public demo at a corporate event.

It allows managers to keep track of individual workers’ use of Microsoft’s Office 365 software – including Outlook email and the Teams meeting and Excel spreadsheet apps.

Microsoft points out the facility is not enabled by default and suggests its primary goal is to identify IT shortcomings.

But critics say it is effectively an employee-surveillance tool.