The dark side of tech innovation

Technology is supposed to improve people’s lives but whose lives is it improving really?

Imagine a world where there are only two types of jobs. One type is of the people who work incessantly on optimizing ML models, whereas the other type is of people who work relentlessly, day and night, whenever the task appears on their computer screen to tag images, check and validate content or categorize products. The first type of job is highly coveted and well-paid, while the second, if the person is lucky enough to claim enough tasks quickly, they will be paid a couple of dollars at most.

Of course, there aren’t just these two types of jobs related to creating and scaling ML/AI models, there are all kinds of jobs in between in this ecosystem. However, in today’s world, the two opposites co-exist. Companies like Amazon, Scale AI, Appen, and Hive Micro, among others, have created crowdsourcing platforms that allow them to employ thousands of people across countries like India, Venezuela, Philippines, and also the USA. The two opposites also create an interesting power dynamic, in a way it’s modern-day tech colonialism. The companies that operate these platforms further sell these micro-task services to both tech giants and start-ups. For these companies, it’s a lucrative business model, for the workers, it’s a means of survival, especially in such economically challenged countries as Venezuela.

I’m not sure where a remedy lies. But what I’m more certain about is that such issues should be discussed more in the public. The discussions in the spotlight surrounding technology are typically in the realm of privacy, long-term existential risks of AI, bias, job displacement, and so on, while economic inequality and power dynamics make the charts less frequently.

Reading about such problems is not enough. What typically best exposes these problems is the work of artists and filmmakers who tell the stories and show the faces of gig workers. One documentary that does this is “The Gig Is Up” by Shannon Walsh. I recommend watching the documentary as well as listening to this interview with Shannon during which she discusses the insecurity of being a gig worker and its impact on society as depicted in her documentary.