Generative Technologies: Working in solidarity

"The development of industry and of the various sectors connected with it, even the most modern electronics technology, especially in the fields of miniaturization, communications and telecommunications and so forth, shows how vast is the role of technology, that ally of work that human thought has produced, in the interaction between the subject and object of work (in the widest sense of the word). Understood in this case not as a capacity or aptitude for work, but rather as a whole set of instruments which man uses in his work, technology is undoubtedly man's ally. It facilitates his work, perfects, accelerates and augments it. It leads to an increase in the quantity of things produced by work, and in many cases improves their quality. However, it is also a fact that, in some instances, technology can cease to be man's ally and become almost his enemy, as when the mechanization of work "supplants" him, taking away all personal satisfaction and the incentive to creativity and responsibility, when it deprives many workers of their previous employment, or when, through exalting the machine, it reduces man to the status of its slave."

"Man fulfils himself by using his intelligence and freedom. In so doing he utilizes the things of this world as objects and instruments and makes them his own. The foundation of the right to private initiative and ownership is to be found in this activity. By means of his work man commits himself, not only for his own sake but also for others and with others. Each person collaborates in the work of others and for their good. Man works in order to provide for the needs of his family, his community, his nation, and ultimately all humanity. Moreover, he collaborates in the work of his fellow employees, as well as in the work of suppliers and in the customers' use of goods, in a progressively expanding chain of solidarity. Ownership of the means of production, whether in industry or agriculture, is just and legitimate if it serves useful work. It becomes illegitimate, however, when it is not utilized or when it serves to impede the work of others, in an effort to gain a profit which is not the result of the overall expansion of work and the wealth of society, but rather is the result of curbing them or of illicit exploitation, speculation or the breaking of solidarity among working people. Ownership of this kind has no justification, and represents an abuse in the sight of God and man."

"Automation technology has ushered in a fleet of secret workers behind screens, machines, and smiling robot faces. The robots and chatbots aren't replacing humans, they're just keeping the people out of sight and out of mind. And while separating the customer from the workers serving them may be good for the companies, there's mounting evidence it's a terrible deal for the employees."

"Humans are correcting customer-service chatbots, listening to Alexa requests, and categorizing the emotions of people on video calls. They are labeling food so that smart refrigerators don’t get confused by new packaging, checking automated security cameras before sounding alarms, and identifying corn for baffled autonomous tractors."

"More than 2 million people in the Philippines perform this type of “crowdwork,” according to informal government estimates, as part of AI’s vast underbelly. While AI is often thought of as human-free machine learning, the technology actually relies on the labor-intensive efforts of a workforce spread across much of the Global South and often subject to exploitation."

"To get those labels, OpenAI sent tens of thousands of snippets of text to an outsourcing firm in Kenya, beginning in November 2021. Much of that text appeared to have been pulled from the darkest recesses of the internet. Some of it described situations in graphic detail like child sexual abuse, bestiality, murder, suicide, torture, self harm, and incest."

"Last year, I visited the sprawling mines of Cerro Rico, the “rich hill” that looms over Potosi, Bolivia. Four centuries ago, it supplied the silver that bankrolled the Spanish empire. Today, miners who work in the same tunnels as 16th century conscripted Incan laborers are providing tin for Apple products like the iPhone. It’s a powerful paradox — our most cutting-edge consumer devices are made from raw material obtained by methods barely advanced beyond colonial times."

"If we widen our view from the automation theorists’ focus on shiny new automated factories and ping-pong-playing consumer robots, we can see a world of crumbling infrastructure, deindustrialized cities, harried nurses, and underpaid salespeople, as well as a massive stock of financialized capital with dwindling places to invest itself profitably."

"While we often think of automation and A.I. as developments that will eventually replace workers (think of Tesla’s partly automated tractor-trailer), those tools are already in heavy use in the workplace. And they haven’t replaced workers; they’ve simply been brought in to manage declining working conditions."

"Over the course of the 20th century, few jobs were fully automated out of existence. Gone are the lift operators, film projectionists and travel agents of yesteryear, but it is difficult to cite more examples. Most jobs did not disappear with technological progress. Instead, their content changed. Longshoremen used to load cargo by hand; now they operate cranes."

"To be a Luddite is seen as synonymous with being primitive — backwards in your outlook, ignorant of innovation’s wonders, and fearful of modern society. This all-or-nothing approach to debates about technology and society is based on severe misconceptions of the real history and politics of the original Luddites: English textile workers in the early 19th century who, under the cover of night, destroyed weaving machines in protest to changes in their working conditions."

"How far should machines be entrusted to take over tasks previously performed by humans? What is gained and lost when they do so? What is the optimal mix of robotic and human interaction? And how do various rules—whether codes of professional ethics, insurance policies, or statutes—influence the scope and pace of robotization in our daily life?"

"Even when electromechanical and then electronic computers came in, women continued to do computing work. They programmed, operated, troubleshooted, tested, and even assembled these new machines. In fact, IBM UK measured the manufacturing of computers in “girl hours” (which were less expensive than “man hours”) because the people who built the machines were nearly all women."

"In a North American world where Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri speak to some of us from our cellphones and our homes, a personified female operating system who seems to display intuitive empathy might strike viewers less as a portent of technology to come than a reflection on the possibilities and pitfalls latent in new technology. Indeed, we do not have to turn to science fiction to find depictions of corporate networks of intuitive computers."

"These so-called soft AI technologies typically default to a feminine identity, tapping into a complex history of the secretary as a capable, supportive, ever-ready, and feminized subordinate. This history of the secretary also points to interesting questions about the embedded gender, race, and class dynamics of surveillance. These systems speak in voices that have feminine, white, and “educated” intonation, and they simultaneously harvest enormous amounts of data about the user they are meant to serve."

"TIMNIT GEBRU didn’t set out to work in AI. At Stanford, she studied electrical engineering — getting both a bachelor’s and a master’s in the field. Then she became interested in image analysis, getting her Ph.D. in computer vision. When she moved over to AI, though, it was immediately clear that there was something very wrong."