Teachers at Euan Blair firm report ‘horrendous stress’ after AI used to rate their work

KUALA LUMPUR, 29 SEPTEMBER 2026 —

Multiverse, the £1.6 billion tech‑training firm co‑founded by Euan Blair, has been accused by its own instructors of “horrendous stress” after the company introduced an artificial‑intelligence system that monitors and scores classroom sessions in real time.

The monitoring tool analyses transcripts of online lessons, flags “risk status”, assigns a “percentage confidence score” and generates written comments for managers. It is programmed to alert human supervisors when it detects behaviours such as a delayed response to a technical disruption, the use of filler phrases like “sort of” or “kind of”, vague answers, learner silence after a prompt, or prolonged one‑to‑one exchanges that sideline the group.

According to the company, the AI does not replace human judgement but “directs human time to where it’s needed most” by highlighting potential problems. A spokesperson said the system is “using AI to improve the experience of learners and customers” and that only human managers write performance reviews. The company added that the introduction of the tool had been communicated in advance and that teachers would have access to the data the AI collects.

“This agent provides instructors with improved advice on development and feedback – exactly how any learning organisation should be deploying AI,” the spokesperson said, adding that the most consequential action the AI can take is to recommend a human review of a session.

The rollout marks a shift from the previous practice of monthly human observation to several hours of AI‑driven scrutiny each day. Teachers say the AI’s criteria are unforgiving. “Since all of this has come in, the stress level has been absolutely horrendous,” one instructor, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Guardian. “It has affected sleep, and not just for me.

I’ve gone through a lot of things in my life, and I haven’t ever been in a position where I’m waking up in the middle of the night.” Another teacher said the system forces them to constantly wonder, “am I saying the right thing so the AI doesn’t mark me down for something stupid that I’ve mistakenly said?” A third described the experience as “very uncomfortable”, adding that the AI judges a trainer harshly even when a brief hesitation is later corrected, because the system is instructed to count any “visible confusion” as evidence that the instruction was not clear the first time.

Multiverse’s AI draws on models from Anthropic and OpenAI. The company, which employs more than 800 staff, supplies AI and digital‑skills training to the NHS, local councils, universities and private‑sector firms, largely funded through the UK apprenticeship levy. The firm was valued at £1.6 billion on a turnover of £118 million and a loss of £28 million in the previous year.

Euan Blair, the eldest son of former prime minister Tony Blair, holds a large minority stake that puts his personal net worth at an estimated £350 million. He has publicly advocated for widespread AI adoption, recently claiming that “every single worker is going to need to be retrained” and that employers want their workforces “as AI‑pilled as possible”.

The teachers’ complaints echo broader concerns about AI‑enabled workplace surveillance. Earlier this year Burger King began using AI to monitor restaurant staff interactions with customers, and Meta paused a program that tracked employees’ computer keystrokes after privacy backlash. Critics warn that such monitoring can erode human agency.

The United Tech and Allied Workers branch of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) described AI as causing “cognitive surrender”, saying it leads workers to lose skills and confidence and can intensify, rather than ease, work pressures.

John Chadfield, the national tech officer at the CWU, said the public would be horrified to learn of “deeply intrusive surveillance on workers” and called for new laws to ensure AI is deployed responsibly, warning that unchecked use could “shut off job opportunities for young people, degrade the craft of skilled workers and make astronomical profit for a few”.

Multiverse’s internal quality‑assurance process was already under scrutiny. In February, Ofsted, the UK education inspectorate, found the company failed to meet expected standards in several areas, though it praised the instructors as “skilled, effective teachers”. The AI monitoring agent, introduced in recent weeks, is trained to spot signs that an instructor has not fully internalised teaching material, counting filler words and hedges across an entire transcript rather than in isolated instances.

The system’s guidelines state that “1‑2 hedges or filler words in an otherwise direct, well‑internalised explanation do NOT fail this standard … What fails the standard is a PERVASIVE REPEATED pattern of filler, hedging or re‑explanation.” It also instructs the AI to apply a negative mark “even if it was eventually straightened out” when a trainer appears confused.

Teachers say the AI has already led to managers pulling them up for alleged “digressions” that were in fact responses to student questions. “It’s impossible for me not to be affected by this mentally,” one teacher said. “I feel like I’m under continuous scrutiny.” Another added, “It’s all about what I didn’t do in this session rather than what I did do. Did I do something incorrectly yesterday? What will I mess up on today?

It’s remorseless. I don’t know why this is happening.”

Multiverse has not directly addressed the stress and anxiety complaints, but maintains that the AI tool is intended to provide “improved advice on development and feedback”. The company says the most consequential action the AI can take is to recommend a human review, implying that final judgments remain with managers.

As the debate over AI‑driven monitoring intensifies, the teachers’ revelations place Multiverse at the centre of a growing controversy over how far employers can, and should, let algorithms dictate workplace behaviour.

Related: Multiverse · Euan Blair