How do AI systems magically understand what’s going on in the image you uploaded? Turns out there is an army of low-wage human workers behind the scenes that is required to make this happen. In this episode I attempt to shed some light on these workers, sometimes called data labelers, but often referred to as Ghost Workers. These ghosts are very real, and it behooves us to get to know them and their work. 

This labor force is often located in the Global South where people desperate for work can be exploited in patterns of colonial extraction. These workers view traumatic content so that AI chatbots won’t show it to us. They also watch our interactions and sometimes even play the role of the computer.

Links mentioned:
Blood in the Machine Podcast - What’s really behind AI ‘super intelligence’
https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/whats-really-behind-ai-super-intelligence

404 Media - Humans Are Reading Copilot Prompts — And They're Horrified
https://www.404media.co/humans-reading-copilot-prompts-images/

Techspot - Meta's smart glasses raise privacy alarms as data labelers review intimate recordings
https://www.techspot.com/news/111575-meta-smart-glasses-raise-privacy-alarms-data-labelers.html


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