At the WORK2025 conference in Turku, Finland, DiPLab co-founders Antonio Casilli and Paola Tubaro presented the results of their ongoing research documenting the human labor networks that power artificial intelligence systems worldwide. Casilli’s keynote (video 00:29-1:36:00), “Where does AI come from? Global circulation of data and human labor behind automation,” emphasized that AI systems are fundamentally built upon hidden human labor—specifically digital annotation, verification, transcription, moderation, and impersonation of data. This labor is fragmented, precarious, and carried out through digital platforms, predominantly by workers in the Global South who remain unrecognized in dominant AI discourses. Casilli presentation starts with an excerpts from the documentary In the Belly of AI (co-written with Julien Goetz and directed by Henri Poulain), describing the working conditions of women annotating data and producing AI from Finnish prisons for 3 euros per day. In the rest of his keynote speech, drawing from the decade-long research of the DiPLab program, Casilli explored how data work is organized across Africa, Asia, Latin America, as well as Europe and North America, revealing models that support different types of data tasks while reinforcing enduring inequalities in wages, job security, and working conditions that particularly affect Global South workers. He highlighted the increasingly convoluted nature of these supply chains involving several intermediaries—from global tech firms to local freelancers—spanning continents, making it extremely challenging to trace accountability and working conditions. Tubaro’s presentation, “Women in the loop: the gendered contribution of data workers to AI,” examined who actually performs this crucial but undervalued work, focusing on women’s participation as the market has expanded. While data work appears theoretically well-suited for women since it can be performed remotely from home and platforms generally limit direct gender discrimination, statistical evidence reveals mixed patterns with women exceeding 50% of data workers in only four documented cases. Her research showed that in crisis-stricken countries like Venezuela, international platforms attract highly qualified workers in fierce competition, often dominated by young men with STEM backgrounds who crowd out women constrained by care responsibilities or fewer technical qualifications. Conversely, in more dynamic economies like Brazil, local job markets absorb highly skilled professionals, leaving platform work to more disadvantaged groups where women with family duties become more visible. This creates a paradox where women may be equally educated but lack time to cultivate advanced STEM skills, and as platforms demand longer, more specialized tasks, men increasingly gain advantages even in countries where women were once the majority. Both presentations converged on a critical insight: platform design treats workers as abstract entities, stripped of socio-economic and cultural contexts that shape real inequalities, while competition combined with local conditions deepens gender and regional disparities. sq