DiPLab’s Antonio Casilli Contributes to Spain’s International Report on Democracy at Work
DiPLab - Sunday, February 1, 2026We are pleased to announce that DiPLab’s co-director, Professor Antonio Casilli, contributed expert testimony to the International High-Level Expert Committee on Democracy at Work for the Spanish Government, whose final report will be publicly released tomorrow, Monday, February 2, 2026, at 11am CET in Madrid.
About the Report
Established by the Ministry of Labour of the Government of Spain, the Expert Committee on Democracy at Work brought together international experts to examine critical challenges facing workers in the contemporary economy. The Committee’s comprehensive report represents months of research, deliberation, and expert testimony from leading scholars and practitioners worldwide.
Professor Casilli’s testimony, delivered at online hearings in May 2025, focused on “The Crisis of Informality and the Global Value Chain,” bringing DiPLab’s groundbreaking research on data work and AI labor into this crucial policy conversation.
In his testimony, Professor Casilli presented findings from DiPLab’s extensive research programme on Digital Platform Labor, highlighting a frequently overlooked dimension of algorithmic management: the externalized, largely invisible labor that powers artificial intelligence development.
Professor Casilli’s complete testimony to the Committee is available below:
Hearing_Casilli_Democracy_Work_Spain_May_2025DownloadThe presentation examined data work as an essential but systematically undervalued component of AI production systems. Drawing on DiPLab’s field research across multiple continents—including French- and English-speaking countries in Africa (Madagascar, Kenya, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Uganda, Egypt), Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries in Latin America (Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina), and South and Southeast Asia (India, Philippines, Bangladesh, Nepal, China)—Professor Casilli documented stark disparities in compensation and working conditions.
As Professor Casilli emphasized, while AI appears to be “produced” in the Global North where major technology companies maintain their headquarters, this masks a complex reality: data production remains concentrated in the Global South, with labor flowing through established patterns that reflect linguistic, colonial, and economic connections.
Report Release
When: Monday, February 2, 2026, at 11:00 AM CET
Where: Ministry of Labour, Madrid (live-streamed)
Live stream: https://www.youtube.com/live/frTjUx2TOb8
The complete report will be published in both English and Spanish at noon CET on the dedicated website: