Speaker
Antonio Casilli (Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Churchill College)
Abstract
The pursuit of labour-saving technologies through artificial intelligence presents a paradox: while AI promises to reduce human workload, its development and maintenance heavily rely on human input, often in the form of low-wage, precarious data work. This contradiction raises important questions about the true cost and impact of automation technologies.
Recent years have seen a growing body of research examining the hidden human labour behind AI solutions. DiPLab’s extensive research in more than 20 countries across Africa, Europe, and Latin America has revealed a complex global landscape of AI data work. Our findings uncover an invisible workforce performing unstable gigs that fuel AI advancements, from annotating data for apps and moderating content for social media to training e-commerce algorithms and evaluating AI chatbot responses.
This perspective offers a nuanced understanding of AI’s global impact on labour. This presentation explores ethical concerns and power dynamics, addressing issues of worker exploitation, lingering colonial influences, and the long-term effects on job markets and wealth distribution in AI production. By shedding light on these often-overlooked aspects, our research aims to provide seminar participants with elements to challenge narratives of jobless futures and develop a more comprehensive view of the human contribution to digital technologies.
About the speaker
Antonio A. Casilli is Professor of Sociology at the Institute Polytechnique de Paris. He is an associate researcher of the ‘Data, Algorithmic Systems and Ethics’ research group at the Weizenbaum-Institut, Berlin. His main research foci are AI, digital platforms, and digital labour. He is a co-founder of the DiPLab (Digital Platform Labor) research initiative and the INDL (International Network on Digital Labour).
Among his publications is: Waiting for Robots. The Hired Hands of Automation (University of Chicago Press, 2025).
He co-wrote the two documentaries ‘Invisible Clickworkers’, 2020 and ‘In the Belly of AI’, 2024, both produced by the French national public television broadcaster, and featured by the BBC, Le Monde, Arte, Wired, and Times of India.
CRASSH events are free and open to everyone unless otherwise stated.
