Episode 115: Ghost Work: the Hidden Workers of AI

The Gig economy. We know what that means. Outsourcing jobs. We know what that means. Working remotely. We know what that means. But what happens when all three are combined?

Our guest on this episode of the Georgian Impact Podcast, Mary Gray, co-authored Ghost Work: How to Stop Silicon Valley from Building a New Global Underclass and if you are growing your Machine Learning and AI investments Mary’s got some thoughts on the bad and the good behind what type of workers and workforce you might be needing to be able to proudly talk to your customers about the company you strive to be.

You’ll hear about: 

• The manual work behind many AI projects
• A new model for employment relations
• How micro-employment platforms guarantee the skills you need
• How to do good by your contract employees

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Who is Mary Gray?

Mary Gray is Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research and a fellow at the E.J. Safra Center for Ethics Fellow and Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society Faculty Affiliate at Harvard University.

Using the tools of anthropology and critical media studies, Mary looks at how material conditions and everyday uses of technologies transform people’s lives.

Her most recent book, “Ghost Work: How to Stop Silicon Valley from Building a New Global Underclass,” co-authored with computer scientist Siddharth Suri, explores the lives of people paid to train artificial intelligence and, increasingly, serve as “humans in the loop” delivering on-demand services.