Our DiPLab seminar will welcome on July 03, 2025, at 3:30 PM CET, Professor Francisca Gutiérrez Crocco (Universidad Austral de Chile). The seminar will be held both in person and online, at ISC-PIF, 113 rue Nationale, 75013 Paris, France. To register, click on the button below and fill out the form. The seminar is free to attend and in-person. Register to seminar Patching Algorithmic Management in Digital Delivery Platforms > In this Seminar, I will develop the concept of patching to analyse how digital > platforms maintain algorithmic power in the face of worker disruption. Drawing > on a four-year qualitative study of food delivery services in Chile and > Argentina, I will shift the analytical focus from couriers to support staff—an > often overlooked group tasked with resolving algorithmic failures. I will > describe five key functions that support staff perform to sustain platform > control over couriers: detecting disruptions, prioritising threats, creating > and implementing solutions, and imitating algorithmic outputs. I will argue > that platform control over couriers relies not only on automated decisions but > also on discretionary, often concealed, human interventions. While support > staff play a pivotal role in stabilising systems, they themselves are > subjected to tight algorithmic surveillance and managerial control. These > findings provide a socio-technical account of algorithmic management that > challenges technological determinism, highlighting the labour embedded in > supposedly automated processes. Francisca Gutiérrez Crocco holds a PhD in Sociology from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. She currently works as a professor at the Universidad Austral de Chile and as a researcher at the Millennium Nucleus for the Evolution of Work. She has led several research projects on labour transformations in Latin America, funded by grants from the Chilean Research and Development Agency and other international organisations such as the Internet Society Foundation. She has also worked as a consultant for trade unions, the Chilean government, the ILO and ECLAC, among other organisations. Her work has been published in leading labour journals such as the International Labour Review, Work, Employment and Society and Employee Relations.

Our DiPLab seminar will welcome this May 23, 2025, at 5 PM CET, Professor Evan Selinger (Rochester Institute of Technology) for a talk and an interesting discussion, together with Antonio Casilli. The seminar will be held at Maison de la Recherche, 28 Rue Serpente, 75006 Paris, room D421. To register, click on the button below and fill out the form. The seminar is free to attend. Register to seminar MACHINES THAT MIRROR US: THE HUMAN COST OF AI “WITH A SOUL” > In a recent podcast, Mark Zuckerberg claimed that “the average American has > fewer than three friends” and that people “demand meaningfully more.” These > unverified assertions conveniently support Meta’s latest initiative: a new > range of products that complement each person’s social friend network with AI > chatbots. > Meta is not alone in commercially capitalizing on the growing narrative of a > “loneliness epidemic.” Other tech giants are following suit, with Google > preparing to release AI chatbots for users under 13. These rollouts coincide > with a time when AI systems—long capable of passing the Turing Test—not > through advanced intelligence but by convincingly impersonating human > characters like teens or children, complete with backstories, humor, and > preferences, showing that relatability, not intellect, often drives their > success in human interaction. > What does it mean when machines are built not to surpass us, but to mirror us? > Are we diluting the meaning of “humanity” by outsourcing it to algorithms? > Some recent tragedies—such as the reported suicides of individuals in Europe > and the US after interactions with emotionally manipulative chatbots—raise > urgent ethical questions. > Yet there’s another side. These technologies, by mimicking humanity, also > provoke reflection on what cannot be simulated: our capacity for empathy, > care, and authentic connection. As the Roman philosopher Terence wrote, “Homo > sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto”—”I am human, and nothing human is alien > to me.” Might our interactions with AI deepen our understanding of what > remains distinctly human? > In this talk, philosopher Evan Selinger, in conversation with sociologist > Antonio Casilli, explores what he calls the “soul” in the machine—that > irreducible human essence no algorithm can capture. This presentation aims to > provide participants with ethical tools to recognize emotional manipulation, > navigate emerging moral dilemmas, and preserve human authenticity in an > increasingly synthetic world. Drawing on Selinger’s book Re-Engineering > Humanity (Cambridge University Press, 2018), they will examine how the real > threat isn’t hyper-intelligent AI, but the seductive ease of one-sided > relationships with machines—and the corporate drive to monetize these > interactions by harvesting data and maximizing profit. Evan Selinger is Professor of Philosophy at Rochester Institute of Technology, specializing in technology ethics and privacy. His recent books include Move Slow and Upgrade (with Albert Fox Cahn) and Re-Engineering Humanity (with Brett Frischmann), both from Cambridge University Press. Selinger writes for The Boston Globe and has contributed to major publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, Wired, and The Atlantic. He collaborates with organizations like the ACLU and the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project to shape responsible technology policy. >

When Robots Don’t Show Up. Organizing the real workforce behind automation is the title of the webinar that DiPLab’s Antonio Casilli gave at ETUI (European Trade Union Institute) on April 16, 2025. Part of the AI Talks series, the webinar was an online conversation with Aida Ponce Del Castillo, Senior researcher @ ETUI > Antonio A. Casilli’s new book “Waiting for Robots: The Hired Hands of > Automation” (University of Chicago Press, 2025) exposes how automated > technologies depend on vast networks of outsourced and invisibilized human > labor. In his research, he documents how platform workers, micro-taskers, and > everyday users provide the essential input that makes AI systems function. > Casilli argues that automation narratives serve to fragment and devalue labor > while obscuring human contribution. Featured in Science, MIT Technology > Review, and selected as a Top Science Pick by the journal Nature, his work > offers union organizers practical approaches to identifying and mobilizing the > dispersed workforce behind digital platforms and AI systems. This presentation > will address urgent questions about worker rights, working conditions, and > collective action in a future where robots perpetually fail to arrive.