INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
"The system was out for blood and I was its first victim"
"It
wasn't the first time my key card failed, I assumed it was time to replace it."So began a sequence of events that saw Ibrahim Diallo fired
from his job, not by his manager but by a machine.He has detailed his story in a blogpost which he hopes will serve as a warning to firms
about relying too much on automation."Automation can be an asset to a company, but there needs to be a way for humans to take over if the
machine makes a mistake," he writes.The story of Mr Diallo's sacking by machine began when his entry pass to the Los Angeles skyscraper
where his office was based failed to work, forcing him to rely on the security guard to allow him entry."As soon as I got to my floor, I
went to see my manager to let her know
She promised to order me a new one right away.."Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Not being able to get into his
office was frustrating but set off no alarm bells for Mr Diallo
Then he noticed that he was logged out of his work system
and a colleague told Mr Diallo that the word "Inactive" was listed alongside his name.His day got worse
After lunch - and a 10-minute wait for a co-worker to let him back into his office - he was told by his recruiter that she had received an
email saying his contract was terminated
She promised to sort out the problem.The next day he had been locked out of every single system "except my Linux machine" and then, after
lunch, two people appeared at his desk
Mr Diallo was told that an email had been received telling them to escort him from the building.Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
The moment he was escorted from the building, he knew things had taken a new turn
His boss was confused but
helpless as Mr Diallo recalls: "I was fired
There was nothing my manager could do about it
There was nothing the director could do about it
They stood powerless as I packed my stuff and left the building."At the time, he was eight weeks into a three-year contract and over the
next three weeks he was copied into emails about his case."I watched it be escalated to bigger and more powerful titles over and over, yet
no-one could do anything about it
From time-to-time, they would attach a system email
"It was soulless and written in red as it gave orders that dictated my fate
Disable this, disable that, revoke access here, revoke access there, escort out of premises, etc."The system was out for blood and I was its
very first victim."It took Mr Diallo's bosses three weeks to find out why he had been sacked
His firm was going through changes, both in terms of the systems it used and the people it employed.His original manager had been recently
laid off and sent to work from home for the rest of his time at the firm and in that period he had not renewed Mr Diallo's contract in the
new system.Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Once one box was not ticked, the whole system kicked in to kick Mr
Diallo out
After that, machines took over - flagging him as an ex-employee."All the necessary orders are sent automatically
and each order completion triggers another order
For example, when the order for disabling my key card is sent, there is no way of it to be re-enabled
"Once it is disabled, an email is sent to security about recently dismissed employees
Scanning the key card is a red flag
The order to disable my Windows account is also sent
There is also one for my Jira account
And on and on."Although Mr Diallo was allowed back to work, he had missed out on three weeks' worth of pay and been escorted from the
He had to explain his disappearance to others and found his co-workers became distant.He decided to move to another job.His story should
serve as a cautionary tale about the human-machine relationship, thinks AI expert Dave Coplin."It's another example of a failure of human
thinking where they allow it to be humans versus machines rather than humans plus machines," he said
"One of the fundamental skills for all humans in an AI world is accountability - just because the algorithm says it's the answer, it doesn't
