Feeding the Machine: The Hidden Human Labour Powering AI
When and Where
Description
We are pleased to announce the next talk for the Platforms & Labour Speaker Series, co-organized by Rafael Grohmann and David Nieborg. Mark Graham (University of Oxford) and James Muldoon (University of Essex) will give a book talk on Feeding the Machine: The Hidden Human Labour Powering AI on November 19 (Tuesday), 4PM, at Knowledge Media Design Institute (KDMI), U of T.
Silicon Valley has sold us the illusion that artificial intelligence is a frictionless technology that will bring wealth and prosperity to humanity. But hidden beneath this smooth surface lies the grim reality of a precarious global workforce of millions labouring under often appalling conditions to make AI possible. This talk – based on the recently published book Feeding the Machine – will present research on the intricate network that maintains this exploitative system, revealing the untold truth of AI. Feeding the Machine tells the story of a global technology through the eyes of the people who produce it. The talk will describe the lives of the workers deliberately concealed from view, and the power structures that determine their future. It will center voice of the people whom AI exploits, from accomplished writers and artists to the armies of data annotators, content moderators and warehouse workers. It will further reveal how their dangerous, low-paid labour is connected to longer histories of gendered, racialized, and colonial exploitation.
About the Authors:
Mark Graham is Professor of Internet Geography at the University of Oxford and Director of Fairwork. He studied the growth of a global digital labour market since the first arrival of submarine internet cables in Kenya in 2009.
James Muldoon is an Associate Professor in Management at the University of Essex, a Research Associate at the University of Oxford and the Head of Digital Research at the Autonomy think tank. His research examines how modern technologies such as artificial intelligence and digital platforms can create public value and serve the common good.
Hosted by Professors Rafael Grohmann and David Nieborg as part of the Platforms & Labour Speaker Series
Co-sponsored by: KDMI, Department of Arts, Culture and Media/UTSC and Faculty of Information.
