Can AI really do everything by itself?

AI has impressed a lot of people with its output. But even though it’s sold as an autonomous, inhuman tool, there’s a lot of human work that goes into it. While that work does happen in the US, many AI laborers also live overseas – and get paid less to do it. Everything that goes into making AI function – from the data it feeds on to the labor that trains it – smacks of colonialism, according to some scholars and researchers. This has led to the emergence of the term "data colonialism." Is this comparison a fitting one, and what are the broader implications of data colonialism for society at large?

First, Brittany chats with Sam Mallari, Network Content Strategy Manager on the NPR Member Partnership Team, about when she first noticed the human hands behind AI's work. Then, Brittany gets deeper into it with Regine Cabato, a freelance journalist based in the Philippines who’s written about AI laborers there for The Washington Post, and Ulises Mejias, professor at SUNY Oswego and co-author of the book Data Grab the New Colonialism of Big Tech and How to Fight Back.

(00:00) Does AI really do everything by itself?
(04:20) The human labor behind AI
(06:46) The work conditions of overseas AI laborers
(09:43) Why AI companies recruit some workers from the Global South
(14:56) The narrative of AI's magic
(18:04) Is AI shaped by colonialism?
(24:53) Is an ethical generative AI possible?

For more episodes about AI and modern life, check out:
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The hard work of having "good taste"

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