On 16-17 May 2025, DiPLab’s Paola Tubaro was invited by the French Institute in Argentina to participate in its landmark event “Night of Ideas.” At world-famous Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, she spoke in panels that provocatively questioned the “new voluntary servitude” of platform work and asked whether “in AI we trust?” On 20 May, she gave a talk on “The Future of Work and AI” at the prestigious University of Buenos Aires. She presented some results of her research on digital labor and its role in AI production, developed in the framework of the DiPLab research program. No Caption No Caption No Caption No Caption

We are overjoyed to welcome Amani Parvathaneni and Sebastián Budnevich as the newest members of the DiPLab team! Over the past several months, these exceptional postgraduate students have already made significant contributions to our scientific research initiatives. Amani and Sebastián have excelled in processing complex datasets across multiple projects, while also enhancing the depth and scope of our fieldwork investigations into labor platforms. Their analytical rigor and innovative approaches have proven invaluable to advancing our mission to understand the evolving dynamics of digital labor. We look forward to their continued growth and impact as part of our collaborative research community. Amani is a Master’s student in Economics at SciencesPo, with a keen interest in political economy, the sociology of markets, and how economic systems shape and are shaped by societal structures. At DiPLab, she is excited to pursue these interests by contributing to the VOLI project. I am a Master’s student in Sociology at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC) and hold a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Chile. Throughout my academic and professional career, my research interests have focused on the sociology of work in general, and more specifically, on topics related to platform labor, collective action and bargaining, and individual labor rights.

We share the exciting news of two new papers that were published last month, concerning parts of the extensive research DiPLab conducts on the networks of production of AI The first paper is titled “Where does AI come from? A global case study across Europe, Africa, and Latin America” (by P. Tubaro, A.A. Casilli, M. Cornet, C. le Ludec and J. Torres Cierpe), appears in New Political Economy’s special issue on power in the digital economy. It examines AI supply chains, focusing on how and where companies recruit workers for data annotation and other essential tasks. While the organisation of AI data work varies, the reasons for these differences and the ways it dovetails with local economies were underexplored. This article clarifies these supply chains’ structures, highlighting their impacts on labour conditions and remunerations. Framing AI as an instance of well-known outsourcing and offshoring trends, analysis of AI data work in France, Madagascar, and Venezuela, highlights two main models: marketplace-like contracts and firm-like structures, with hybrid arrangements in between. Each model suits different AI tasks but all reproduce well-known patterns of exclusion that harm externalised workers especially in the Global South. We argue that worker reclassification alone is insufficient and advocate for a broader policy mix, including regulation of technology and development strategies at national and supra-national levels. You may find an open access version of the preprint of the paper here -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The second paper is titled “The digital labour of artificial intelligence in Latin America: a comparison of Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela” (by P. Tubaro, A.A. Casilli, M. Fernández Massi, J. Longo, J. Torres Cierpe and M. Viana Braz) appears in Globalizations’ special issue on AI in Latin America. It sheds light on the precarious, low-paid data workers supporting AI production in the region, often for foreign firms. Mixed-method data support a comparison of Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela to reveal common patterns and regional differences. The analysis supports the conclusion that Latin America plays a key role in AI data work, with companies exploiting economic hardship to cut costs. In Venezuela and Argentina, crisis conditions foster an ‘elite’ of young, STEM-educated workers, while in Brazil, this work is done by lower-income groups. In all three countries, AI data work also blends with the informal economy, reinforcing inequality in this way. These findings call for more attention to AI labour conditions and advocate for policies to recognise data workers’ skills and support their career development, potentially enabling worker organisation. You may find an open access version of the preprint of the paper here