Our DiPLab seminar is delighted to welcome our friend and collaborator, Dr. Funda Ustek Spilda, Senior Lecturer and South East Asia Programmes Lead at the Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London, on 20 February 2026 at 3:00 pm CET. The seminar will be held in person at ISC-PIF (Institut des Systèmes Complexes – Paris Île de France), 113 rue Nationale, 75013 Paris. To register, click on the button below and fill out the form. The seminar is free to attend. Register here THE DIGITAL ASSEMBLY LINE: UPGRADING DATA WORK WITHIN THE GLOBAL PRODUCTION NETWORKS OF AI This paper investigates how service-based labour practices in data work sites, such as data labelling and content moderation, contribute to development within global production networks (GPNs). Service-based labour practices are gaining wider attention as governments in the Global South actively promote data services as a pathway to economic growth and seek integration to digital value chains. Against this background, the paper examines labour dynamics and managerial perspectives in data work, analysing their implications for economic and social development across diverse geographies. Drawing on upgrading literature within the GPN framework, the paper investigates the potential of service nodes to achieve economic, social and functional upgrading. The findings underscore the difficulties service nodes face in achieving upgrading due to structural dependencies and power asymmetries within the GPNs. Peripheral economies encounter additional barriers, including inadequate infrastructure, skill shortages and investment gaps. The study highlights the urgent need for structural reforms and collective action to counteract systemic inequalities in global production networks, paving the way for a more equitable integration of service-based labour into the global digital economy. Dr. Funda Ustek Spilda is a Senior Lecturer and South East Asia Programmes Lead at the Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London. She holds a DPhil in Sociology from the University of Oxford & St. Cross College, and has held various research positions at Goldsmiths, University of London (ARITHMUS), London School of Economics and Political Science (VIRT-EU), and the Oxford Internet Institute & University of Oxford (Fairwork). She studies topics related to labour, care, work and employment in the digital economy, from an ethics, justice and fairness perspective. Her full list of publications could be accessed at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/funda.ustek/

Our DiPLab seminar is delighted to welcome on November 21, 2025, at 3:00 PM CET our friend and collaborator Dr. Martín Tironi, of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.. The seminar will be held in person at the Shaker Space of the ISC-PIF (Institut des Systèmes Complexes – Paris Île de France), 113 rue Nationale, 75013 Paris. To register, click on the button below and fill out the form. The seminar is free to attend. Register here GROUNDING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN ITS PLANETARY CONDITIONS: AN EXPLORATION AND INTERVENTION ON RARE EARTHS IN CHILE In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as one of the main socio-technical solutions for tackling the global climate crisis. It is credited with the ability to mitigate its effects through tools for reducing emissions, predictive modeling, and environmental monitoring. However, its expansion is based on a narrative that perpetuates the illusion of an immaterial and deterritorialized technology, capable of emancipating us from the physical world on which it nevertheless depends. This presentation outlines a research-creation program aimed at considering the terrestrial condition of AI, i.e., its material, ecological, and geopolitical anchors. Based on the controversy surrounding rare earth extraction in southern Chile, which places the town of Penco on the map of global extractive tensions, analytical and curatorial operations are explored with the aim of “grounding” AI in its geological, social, and political conditions. Drawing on the notion of “excess” developed by Marisol de la Cadena, the aim is to highlight the need to pay attention to what goes beyond modern classification frameworks. In the intertwining of geological times, mining projects, transformed ecologies, and affected communities, controversies emerge that connect local landscapes to global debates around critical minerals for the digital transition. Martín Tironi is an associate professor and former director of the School of Design at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, as well as director of the Núcleo Milenio Futures of Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR). A sociologist trained at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, he holds a master’s degree from Paris Descartes University (Sorbonne V) and a doctorate from the Centre for Sociology of Innovation at the École des Mines de Paris. In 2018, he was a visiting professor at the Centre for Invention and Social Process at Goldsmiths, University of London. He currently leads the Fondecyt project “Digital Technologies for Climate Change” (2024–2028) and is principal investigator of the SEED project (Social and Environmental Effects of Data Connectivity, Chile–France, ECOS-ANID), which examines the hybrid ecologies associated with submarine cables and data centers, essential infrastructures for satellite data processing. His work lies at the intersection of design, technology, and ecology, exploring the links between artificial intelligence, digital materialities, and the planetary limits of innovation. He was part of the team that won the Gold Medal at the London Design Biennale 2023 with the Tectonic Resonance project, and is currently presenting, with Manuela Garretón, the installation Hybrid Ecologies: The Planetary Metabolism of AI at the Venice Biennale 2025.

Our DiPLab seminar will welcome on September 26, 2025, at 3:00 PM CET, Assistant Professor Tim Christiaens (Tilburg University), Associate Professor Francesca Ciulli (Tilburg University), and Assistant Professor Ivana Vranjes (Tilburg University), for an exciting presentation titled Building community around what matters: network bricolage among online crowdworkers. The seminar will be held in person at Shaker Space, located at the 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. Register to seminar Building community around what matters: network bricolage among online crowdworkers > Digital labor platforms rarely provide the social infrastructure that > traditional workplaces offer, yet large numbers of online crowdwork platform > (CLP) workers still succeed in forging a sense of community online. Building > on theories of social well-being and scholarship on labor platforms in > management and organization studies, we examine how such bottom-up > community-building unfolds and how it affects workers’ well-being on Amazon > Mechanical Turk, Prolific, and Clickworker. Over the past two years we carried > out two complementary studies. We argue that CLP workers strike social > connections in attempts to respond to so-called “matters of concerns”, i.e., > challenges and opportunities emerging from the socio-technical environment of > crowdwork platforms. Study 1 is qualitative study in which CLP workers > answered open-ended questions about whether, how, and for what kinds of issues > they communicate with peers. Study 2 is quantitative study measuring CLP > workers’ preferred peer-communication modes and their psychological need > fulfilment (autonomy, competence, relatedness) over time. Together, the > studies suggest that (a) CLP workers (a) actively construct communities in > spaces beyond the platforms themselves, (b) that they do out of various > motivations, and (c) that these connections are systematically linked to their > occupational well-being (regardless of the type of communication). The > findings advance theory on platform labor by integrating qualitative insights > into communicative practices with quantitative evidence on their consequences, > and they suggest concrete leverage points for platforms and worker collectives > aiming to foster sustainable digital workplaces. Tim Christiaens is Assistant Professor of Economic Ethics and Philosophy at Tilburg University, the Netherlands. His research focuses on critical theory, workplace democracy, and the impact of digital technologies on labor. He has written books on the gig economy (Digital Working Lives, 2022) and Italian political philosophy (Introduction to Contemporary Italian Thought, 2026). His research has appeared in journals like Big Data & Society, European Journal of Political Theory, Ethics & Information Technology, and Critical Policy Studies. Francesca Ciulli is an Associate Professor of Organization Studies/Global Management of Social Issues at Tilburg University, the Netherlands. Her research focuses on organizations and novel digital technologies, in relation to grand challenges, sustainability and sustainable development. She published her work in journals such as Journal of World Business, Journal of Business Ethics, Long Range Planning and Journal of Management Studies. Ivana Vranjes is an Assistant Professor of Work and Organizational Psychology at Tilburg University, the Netherlands. Her research focuses on the emergence and prevention of workplace mistreatment and the influence of technology in shaping employee wellbeing at work. She published her work in journals such as Journal of Applied Psychology and Academy of Management Review.

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.