During the Covid pandemic, global consultancy group PwC came up with an idea to help staff work better from home. It recruited 1,000 volunteers who allowed all their digital communications to be monitored by artificial intelligence, which gave them feedback on how they dealt with colleagues.

To encourage participation, PwC agreed that individuals’ data was not to be shared with managers. The aim of the experiment was to improve communication within teams working remotely using AI-powered “nudges” to change behaviour and improve cohesion.

The software rated staff on factors such as how fast they responded, and prompted them to think about why their tone was less warm when talking to certain co-workers. After seeing the resulting ratings, one participant concluded that it was time to create a plan for “how I can improve my behaviour”.