Startup accelerator Y Combinator has taken down a video demo from its social media platforms following intense criticism over what many called "dystopian" workplace surveillance. The video, created by Optifye.ai, demonstrated an AI-powered system designed to track factory workers’ efficiency in real-time.

Optifye.ai, co-founder of Indian-origin entrepreneurs Vivaan Baid and Kushal Mohta, utilises computer vision technology to monitor assembly line workers and provide factory managers with productivity insights. The controversial demo showed the founders acting as factory supervisors while using their software.

In the video, Baid points out an underperforming worker, identified only as “Number 17,” and calls out his inefficiency. “You haven’t hit your hourly output even once today,” Baid states. He then reviews the worker’s past performance and adds, “Rough day? More like a rough month.”

The demo faced swift backlash on social media, with many condemning the startup for treating workers as mere numbers and encouraging exploitative labour practices.

Subsea Robotics founder Christopher Amidon in X (formerly Twitter) vented his anger, reporting, “Leave it to a bunch of children who’ve never worked a real job for a single day in their lives—and still haven’t graduated college—to come up with some obnoxious slave-driving dystopian s**t like this.”

One user criticised the idea, referring to it as “sweatshops-as-a-service,” while others went as far as comparing it to “promoting slavery.”

Despite the intense criticism, some defended the concept, arguing that such surveillance technology is already widely used. Vedant Nair, a founder and former Y Combinator participant, acknowledged that the demo was in “bad taste” but pointed out that similar tools are already being deployed in factories around the world.

Intercom CEO Eoghan McCabe also shared his perspective, suggesting that critics should rethink their position if they continue buying products made in India and China, where worker-monitoring systems are already familiar.

The controversy revolves around a product co-founded by Vivaan Baid and Kushal Mohta.

Both founders of Optifye.ai, who studied at Duke University, say their experiences in manufacturing environments inspired them to create the software.

Baid highlighted his deep connection to the industry, writing on the company’s Y Combinator profile, “My family has been running a manufacturing company since before I was born. I've been around assembly lines for as long as I can remember.”

Mohta shared a similar experience, explaining that his early exposure to factory operations played a key role in shaping the idea for Optifye. “My family also runs several manufacturing plants in various industries, which has given me unrestricted access to assembly lines since I was 15.”