Feeding the Machine

Feeding the Machine examines the latest global technology through the eyes of the people who produce it: this is the story of the army of underpaid and exploited workers powering artificial intelligence

Big Tech has sold us the illusion that artificial intelligence is a frictionless technology that will bring wealth and prosperity to humanity. But hidden beneath this smooth surface lies the grim reality of a precarious global workforce of millions that labour under often appalling conditions to make AI possible. Feeding the Machine presents an urgent, riveting investigation of the intricate network of organisations that maintain this exploitative system, revealing the untold truth of AI. Based on hundreds of interviews and thousands of hours of fieldwork over more than a decade, this book shows us the lives of the workers often deliberately concealed from view and the systems of power that determine their future.

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Feeding the Machine examines the latest global technology through the eyes of the people who produce it: this is the story of the army of underpaid and exploited workers powering artificial intelligence

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James Muldoon, Mark Graham and Callum Cant work together at Fairwork, a project established to highlight the best and worst examples of how new technologies are being used in the workplace.

James Muldoon is a Reader in Management at the University of Essex, a Research Associate at the University of Oxford and the Head of Digital Research at the Autonomy think tank. His research examines how modern technologies such as artificial intelligence and digital platforms can create public value and serve the common good.

Mark Graham is Director of Fairwork and Professor at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford. As an internet geographer, Mark studied the growth of a global digital labour market since the first arrival of submarine internet cables in Kenya in 2009. He has also written for publications including Wired and the Guardian.

Callum Cant is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Essex Business School, where his research focuses on work, technology, and the crises of the 21st century. He has written for publications including the New Internationalist and Vice News. He edits Notes from Below, a journal of worker writing.