We 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_2025Download The 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: * English: https://reportondemocracyatwork.org/en/home/ * Spanish: https://reportondemocracyatwork.org/es/home/

We are thrilled to announce a significant milestone for one of our own: Dr. Mathilde Abel has been appointed as an Associate Professor at Télécom Paris, Institut Polytechnique de Paris! This fantastic achievement recognizes Dr. Abel’s cutting-edge work and commitment to understanding the complexities of digital capitalism and platform labor. During her time as a postdoc with DiPLab, Dr. Abel was a crucial member of our team, contributing significantly to the Voices from Online Labour (VOLI) project. Her work on VOLI focused on AI-related platform work in Latin America, offering vital insights into the evolving landscape of digital work in the Global South. Dr. Abel’s research expertise sits at the intersection of several critical fields: * Platform labor * Algorithmic governance * Cognitive asymmetries in digital capitalism Her methodological approach is unique and robust, combining qualitative fieldwork with computational methods and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to analyze worker-generated data. This blend of methods allows her to capture both the granular human experience and the large-scale patterns shaping digital work. CONGRATULATIONS, MATHILDE! Dr. Abel holds a PhD in Economics from Sorbonne Nouvelle University. Her new role as a faculty member at Télécom Paris not only marks an exciting personal career step but also solidifies the continued relationship between her research and the goals of DiPLab. We look forward to many future collaborations!

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