The hidden human labour powering AI: Introducing the Fairwork Action Research Project
| Dates: | 8 October 2025 |
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| Times: | 13:00 - 14:00 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | Work and Equalities Institute |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, External researchers, Alumni, Current University students |
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| Speaker: | Mark Graham |
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The hidden human labour powering AI: Introducing the Fairwork Action Research Project
Speaker Bio:
Mark Graham is the Professor of Internet Geography at Oxford University. He is also the Director of Fairwork. This initiative has actively pushed companies to implement worker-friendly policies, impacting millions of jobs. His latest book, "Feeding the Machine," delves into the human labour behind the development of Artificial Intelligence.
Abstract:
Artificial intelligence is often seen as a mirror of human intelligence, an attempt to replicate the processes that occur within a human mind. However, a different perspective is presented in the book Feeding the Machine, co-authored by Prof. Mark Graham. AI is described as an "extraction machine." When users interact with AI products, they typically only see the surface and the outputs it generates. In reality, the extraction machine absorbs vital inputs - capital, power, natural resources, human labour, data, and collective intelligence - and transforms them into statistical predictions, which AI companies convert into profits. This process requires control over material infrastructure, workers and knowledge.
The talk introduces the Fairwork project, an action research methodology designed to hold companies within the AI production network accountable. It examines how the Fairwork methodology has successfully functioned in the gig economy, having scored nearly 700 companies to date. Fairwork works with platforms to encourage pro-worker changes to policies and practices. Guided by the Fairwork Principles, companies improve conditions for workers and develop safer, fairer businesses. As a result of Fairwork's engagement, 64 companies have agreed to implement 300 pro-worker changes, covering all five principles.
Speaker
Mark Graham
Role: Professor of Internet Geography
Organisation: The University of Oxford
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
3.014a
Aliiance Manchester Business School
Booth Street West
Manchester
