#AI#GenerativeAI#AITraining#GhostWork#Kenya#Uganda: "Magic is often used as a metaphor for complex technological processes and systems, and this is why in the marketing rhetoric of AI systems, magic has been such a powerful metaphor. We are told of its amazing, un-ending capabilities; its power to both save and ruin the world and of God like qualities just round the corner. It is a powerful metaphor, that is easy to get swept up. But a metaphor is all it is. AI is not untethered, immaterial magic. It is structurally reliant on a vast number of people providing a myriad of tasks in not so magical working conditions.
Everyone likes to believe in magic. But where AI is concerned, awe should be reserved for the workers performing the tasks behind the curtain. It is only because of them that the systems can do what they do. The least they deserve is basic minimum standards at work.
As Fairwork, we will be continuing our investigation into AI supply chains in the new year with new studies. We will be shifting our attention to business process outsourcing companies in Latin America with further support from the Global Partnership on AI. There is nothing inevitable about poor working conditions in the digital economy. Despite their claims to the contrary, companies have substantial control over the nature of the jobs that they provide. Fairwork’s aim is to hold them to account."
