AI Is Now Rating Teachers at a UK Firm on Filler Words, Pauses and 'Digressions' as Staff Describe 'Horrendous Stress'

Instructors at Multiverse, the UK apprenticeship and technology training firm valued at £1.6bn, are being assessed by an artificial intelligence system that transcribes online lessons and flags filler words, hesitation, silence and suspected 'digressions'.

The system, called Compass, uses AI models from Anthropic and OpenAI to analyse several hours of teaching each day.

Staff have described the monitoring as 'remorseless' and 'unnerving', with some reporting anxiety, insomnia and a need for therapy. Multiverse provides AI and digital skills training to thousands of workers in the UK public and private sectors, with much of its work funded through the government's apprenticeship levy.

Compass Analyses Every Online Lesson

Instructors were previously observed by a human manager roughly once a month. Compass instead analyses online lessons by transcribing sessions and assessing them against a behavioural rubric.

The system generates a risk status, confidence percentage and written comments for each teacher. It can flag filler phrases such as 'sort of' and 'kind of', as well as hesitation, self-correction and pauses. It can also identify apparent confusion while task instructions are being explained.

Company guidance says isolated filler words should not cause a teacher to fail an assessment. The system is intended to identify what it calls a 'pervasive repeated pattern' across a transcript.

Teachers Say Student Questions Are Being Flagged as 'Digressions'

Instructors said managers had reprimanded them over suspected 'digressions' that were actually answers to students' questions. Compass can also flag vague answers, prolonged silence from learners and extended one-to-one exchanges that take attention away from the wider group.

A technical connection problem taking longer than roughly one minute to resolve is also flagged. Some instructors said the monitoring had changed their behaviour during lessons. They said they had become more concerned about how their words might appear in the transcript than about responding naturally to learners.

Some staff also raised concerns that recorded and transcribed lessons could eventually be used to train AI systems intended to replace human coaches and instructors.

Managers received access to the Compass dashboard in August and September, allowing them to review teachers' risk statuses. Instructors did not initially have access to their own analytical data. They were told they would receive access in October.

Staff members said the lack of access made it difficult to understand how the system was evaluating their lessons.

Union Calls for Tighter Rules on AI Monitoring

The Communication Workers Union criticised continuous automated monitoring in the workplace. The union said the practice can cause what it described as 'cognitive surrender', in which workers lose professional confidence and autonomy under constant surveillance.

Union representatives called for stronger legislation governing workplace AI and said workers' autonomy should be protected when automated systems are introduced.

Multiverse said Compass provides development advice and helps managers direct their time towards areas where it is most needed. The company said the AI does not make employment decisions. Instead, the system can recommend that a human manager review a recorded session. Employment decisions remain with human managers.

An Ofsted inspection in February identified shortcomings in several areas of Multiverse's provision. The inspectorate also described the firm's instructors as 'skilled, effective teachers'.

Multiverse recorded £118m in turnover last year and reported annual losses of £28m. The company is valued at around £1.6bn and provides training in AI and digital skills to workers across the UK public and private sectors.