Thomas Le Bonniec, a doctoral researcher at DiPLab, has published an op-ed in Le Nouvel Obs criticizing the European Commission’s proposed “Omnibus” digital directive. In his piece, he argues that the directive would weaken key elements of EU digital law while primarily benefiting large U.S. technology companies, including Meta, Palantir Technologies, and Alphabet. Le Bonniec situates the proposal in the broader context of the European Union’s continued reliance on American software and digital infrastructure. According to his analysis, the Omnibus directive does not reduce this dependency but instead reinforces it. He questions whether the European Commission, led by President Ursula von der Leyen and Vice-President for technological sovereignty Henna Virkkunen, is capable of advancing genuine digital autonomy under these conditions. The op-ed also highlights the potential impact on privacy and data protection. Le Bonniec warns that the directive could significantly undermine existing safeguards, without delivering the regulatory simplification or innovation gains promised by the Commission. Ultimately, he frames the Omnibus directive as a political choice with strategic consequences. As long as the EU follows a path of regulatory alignment that favors U.S. digital interests, he argues, it risks entrenching its dependence on Washington. Rejecting the Omnibus directive, Le Bonniec concludes, would be a first step toward building a credible and independent European digital sovereignty.

France Culture’s show Les Pieds sur Terre has devoted a recent episode to what has come to be known as the Siri scandal—the discovery that Apple’s voice assistant recorded private conversations without users’ knowledge. The episode, titled “Hey Siri, are you recording me?” [Dis Siri, est-ce que tu m’enregistres ?, in French], available for replay, features prominently the first-person account of DiPLab’s Thomas Le Bonniec, who partook in this system as part of the large workforce tasked with listening to and annotating Siri recordings. A PhD candidate at the Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Le Bonniec relates his experience which echoes that of hundreds of workers hired to sift through thousands of audio snippets, often recorded unintentionally: medical information, intimate details, sensitive data, and countless fragments of daily life. This role of data worker is often precarious, outsourced, and hidden. This occupation aligns with that of millions of AI trainers, click workers, and content moderators whose labor quietly powers today’s artificial intelligence systems. Their work sheds light on how AI systems rely on vast amounts of human-powered tasks, often carried out under poor working conditions and with limited recognition. Le Bonniec’s testimony contributes to a growing body of evidence emphasizing that behind every “automated” system stands a global labor force ensuring that AI functions as intended.

DiPLab’s Thomas Le Bonniec was interviewed by Radio Blackout, an autonomous Italian radio station based in Turin. He discussed the working conditions of AI trainers and the results of the DeepSeek policy memo published by DiPLab. The memo can be downloaded here: THE-HUMAN-COST-OF-DEEPSEEK