Can AI really do everything by itself?

AI has impressed a lot of people with its output. But even though it’s sold as an autonomous, inhuman tool, there’s a lot of human work that goes into it. While that work does happen in the US, many AI laborers also live overseas – and get paid less to do it. Everything that goes into making AI function – from the data it feeds on to the labor that trains it – smacks of colonialism, according to some scholars and researchers. This has led to the emergence of the term "data colonialism." Is this comparison a fitting one, and what are the broader implications of data colonialism for society at large?

Brittany gets into it with Regine Cabato, a freelance journalist based in the Philippines who’s written about AI laborers there for The Washington Post, and Ulises Mejias, professor at SUNY Oswego and co-author of the book Data Grab the New Colonialism of Big Tech and How to Fight Back.

(00:00) Does AI really do everything by itself?
(04:20) The human labor behind AI
(06:46) The work conditions of overseas AI laborers
(09:43) Why AI companies recruit some workers from the Global South
(14:56) The narrative of AI's magic
(18:04) Is AI shaped by colonialism?
(24:53) Is an ethical generative AI possible?

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