Full project title: Walking the walk: A case study of the impact of ethical AI implementation on workplace actors
In collaboration with the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, the “AI for Fair Work” Project has developed a set of ethical principles for the application of AI for the labour force.
This project seeks to take those principles and use them as a benchmark for empirical research. This research will both compare current practices against the GPAI principles, and use deviance from those principles as a way of encouraging companies to make positive changes to working conditions.
To undertake this research, this project will use a blended methodology, combining workplace observation of labour practices with semi-structured interviews with members of all stakeholder communities.
This project will thus provide important new insights into the current debates around ethical principles in the implementation of AI in the labour force. It would do this by (i), providing insight into the specific issues raised in practice by the workforce context; and (ii), by examining the reception of such ethical principles by various actors within the workplace.
By James Muldoon, Mark Graham, Callum Cant.
AI is an extraction machine that feeds off humanity's collective effort and intelligence, churning through ever-larger datasets to power its algorithms. This book details what we need to do to fight for a more just digital future.
Professor of Internet Geography
Project role: Principal Investigator
Mark Graham is an economic geographer. His research focuses on digital labour, the gig economy, and digital inequalities. He is the author, most recently, of The Gig Economy: A Critical Introduction.
Research Associate
Project role: Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr Funda Ustek-Spilda was a postdoctoral researcher and project manager on the Fairwork project at the Oxford Internet Institute.
Research Assistant
Project role: Research Assistant
Lola Brittain is a Research Assistant on the Fairwork project at the Oxford Internet Institute.
Los Angeles Times, 12 July 2024
From a labor perspective, AI is really an “extraction machine.” Beneath the polished exterior of our devices lies the complex network of components and relationships necessary to power it.
The Guardian, 07 July 2024
The Fairwork trio talk about their new book on the ‘extraction machine’, exposing the repetitive labour, often in terrible conditions, that big tech is using to create artificial intelligence.
This programme supports research in the sphere of AI & Work.
Drawing on the five OECD principles for responsible stewardship of trustworthy AI, this project proposes developing a set of accountability mechanisms to ensure AI systems foster fairer working conditions.
