On Saturday, 17 October, the conference Hacker la Tech, organised by the French investigative media outlet Mediapart, took place in Paris. Bringing together professionals, researchers, writers, journalists, and activists, the event offered a space to discuss technology from a range of critical perspectives. One of the panels, introduced by Antonio Casilli and Dan Israel, a journalist at Mediapart, invited Caroline Wambui, trade unionist and co-founder of the Data Labelers Association, and Germán Salazar, a member of Corporación Ngen. The Data Labelers Association is a trade union founded by Kenyan data workers, advocating for the fair treatment and recognition of data labelers. They recently formally notified Teleperformance, along with Intérêt à Agir, The Oversight Lab Africa, and DiPLab, over its inaction in protecting workers’ integrity. Corporación Ngen is a Chilean collective founded by residents of Quilicura, a neighbourhood of Santiago where tech companies, notably Google, have settled their data centres because of the wetlands surrounding the city. These wetlands are currently threatened by data centres that use water to cool their servers. The discussion brought into focus two of the most important concerns surrounding the development of artificial intelligence: AI water consumption and environmental destruction, and the labour exploitation it produces. By bringing together perspectives from Latin America and Africa, the speakers highlighted the connections between struggles that are often perceived as separate and explored the “double cost of AI”. Whether these struggles concern the environmental consequences of data-centre infrastructure or the working conditions of those who produce the data, these movements confront different dimensions of the same technological model. The conversation revolved around the need to build collective forms of resistance, initially at the local level but, in the longer run, through collective action that can transcend geographical boundaries as AI issus are themeselves, globalized. Rather than treating environmental protection and workers’ rights as distinct causes, the conversation invited participants to consider how these struggles might converge in challenging the social and ecological costs of AI. Watch the video in french bellow

Utopia and Work: When Alternatives Become Possible, a collective volume edited by Mariagrazia Cairo Crocco, Enrico Donaggio, and Nadine Richez-Battesti, was published by Theseo on September 30. In his chapter, “Utopies concrètes et utopies nécessaires à l’heure des intelligences artificielles” (“Concrete utopias and necessary utopias in the age of artificial intelligence”), Antonio Casilli develops four possible utopias for data work, drawing on forms of resistance and agentivity already emerging among workers. Despite the harsh working conditions faced by data workers, the intense surveillance to which they are subjected, and the strict prescription of their work through algorithmic management, data workers engage in both individual and collective forms of resistance to platforms. Workers are resorting to different means of resistance to resist platform exploitation. These include strikes by drivers and delivery workers across Europe, the United States, and Asia, as well as legal action initiated by data workers in Eastern Africa. Through these different forms of action, workers have secured new rights and protections, including the reclassification of employment contract, access to social protections in cases of illness or work related accidents, or even minimal hours payment. Resistance can also be found in free labour done by platform and social medias users with boycott, consumers strikes and consumers unions. As platform workers and users increasingly repurpose platform architectures as tools of resistance, a key question emerges: How do workers invent new forms of autonomy and resistance beyond the constraints imposed by platform capitalism? This chapter builds on one decade of research conducted by Antonio Casilli and DiPLab on data work across the world. It proposes four concrete utopias, possibilities for alternative futures grounded in existing practices of resistance and collective struggle, complemented by two necessary utopias to counterbalance the limitations of the first four. These four concrete utopias are: (1) unionization, whether through data workers joining existing trade unions or creating their own; (2) platform cooperativism and the development of international alternative networks platforms; (3) legislative regulation and the adoption of rules governing platform work; and (4) accountability on the part of technology companies and platforms, through partnerships with their clients and regulatory bodies. The first of the two necessaries utopia is a Social digital income : aka the collective distribution of the money created trough users activities on platforms. The goal is to recognize the free labour users are providing to platforms by using them and also to ensure data workers are remunerated correctly The second is the re-territorialization of digital labour, which involves the collective reappropriation and local governance of digital platforms and infrastructures, with the aim of strengthening workers’ digital sovereignty and their control over the technologies that shape their working conditions. You can download the book for free here

In a recent article, entitled “Séances de psy, crises ésotériques, jurons… Les étranges expériences d’Anthropic sur la «conscience de l’IA» ” Elise Vianacourt asks Antonio Casilli what he thinks about the potential emergence of conscious AI. The article discusses whether AI could be conscious or not, and, if so, whether we should care about its well-being. This is already actually the case at Anthropic, which has hired a team to “take care” of its model. In his interview, Antonio Casilli reminds us that behind AI ethics research are the very same companies that produce AI themselves. This allows them to direct research in the direction they want, avoiding the issue of human work and the working conditions behind AI. “A major part of the research on artificial intelligence is financed by the big companies in the sector themselves, and that’s a problem. To put it another way, it gives them a way to choose their own research topics and create a fake opposition.“ Casilli also argues that this could be a way for tech companies to avoid any legal repercussions for violations of the law that their models could commit. Nothing more than a “tactical and marketing” move. “Imagine a scenario where, twenty years from now, we consider AI not as a galaxy of products, but as sentient beings with rights. Picture what it could look like in a court of law. Confronted with illegal behavior by its machines, Anthropic could argue that the company isn’t responsible. Even worse, it could say: “If you punish us, you are putting the well-being of this creation at risk, and you are violating its rights.” “ You can read the article here Image : By Planetary AI and Techworker Community Africa DOI: https://doi.org/10.7488/era/7341 ©2026 Illustrator: Njung’e Wanjiru

On September 29th, Antonio Casilli was invited to the podcast Les Temps Électriques by Sophie Sontag-Koenig, alongside Arnaud Casado, a legal researcher and member of the Sorbonne’s Judicial Institute, who specializes in labour law. In this episode, entitled “Algorithms at Work! Sociological Investigations and Legal Mobilizations,” the two researchers question the transformations of labour caused by AI, the importance of CSEs (Social and Economic Committees), data workers’ rights, and the environmental toll of AI. Casilli’s interview opens with the “invisible work” carried out by data workers, far removed from the smooth image of the data scientists and engineers we imagine behind AI. He describes this vast category of workers who “teach” AI, label data, and moderate content, more often than not in countries of the Global South. He explains how tangible their work actually is and adds: “This work is far from invisible as soon as we start looking for the workers behind it.” Arnaud Casado considers the possibility of fighting against AI through the law, and especially through the relationship of subordination between workers and companies. One possibility could be the Duty of Vigilance Law. Recently, Teleperformance was formally notified to undertake a comprehensive review of its vigilance plan, by the Kenyan workers’ association Oversight Lab Africa and the Data Labellers Association. Casilli reminds us that Kenyan workers face very low wages, are denied labour rights such as maternity leave, and are often relocated by Teleperformance itself, which hires them from other African countries, leading to visa blackmailing, and illegal employment. This is the first time the Duty of Vigilance Law has been mobilized in this way. Later in the interview, Casilli links data workers conditions and environmental concerns by pointing out that data worker hubs and AI extractivist infrastructures, such as lithium mines and data centers whose voracious water consumption is endangering local communities, can often be found in the same places, mainly in the Global South. He then discusses the Chilean situation, where he is currently conducting research, and the case of activists from the Atacama Desert who are currently fighting against the development of data centers in the oasis they have inhabited for generations. He describes these areas in the Global South as “sacrificial areas”, where “human resources are sacrificed as much as environmental resources.” Casilli closes the podcast by reminding us to question the technologies that make our lives easier at work, or that are presented as “more ethical”. For example, Zoom is often presented as an alternative to in-person meetings, which are considered more polluting. Yet Zoom itself involves AI and therefore relies on the invisible, poorly paid work of thousands of workers across the globe, as well as on data centers and other polluting technologies. You can listen to the podast here

Antonio Casilli’s new chapter for the edited volume Digital Labour in a Turbulent Era, edited by Paola Tubaro, has been pre-published. The book will be published in November of this year. Entitled “The Making of the Data Working Class,” the chapter marks a “turning point” for its author: public awareness of data workers is growing rapidly, and they are starting to fight back and resist. Casilli starts the chapter by describing two categories of workers supporting AI production. The first one consists of tech workers, such as data scientists, data analysts, and software engineers, who are also described as the “AI middle class.” They are highly educated and enjoy a relatively privileged position in the social hierarchy. In contrast, a vast pool of precarious workers operates in the shadows. These “digital blue-collar workers,” who train models, label data, and moderate platform content, are not only rendered invisible but also silenced by corporate non-disclosure clauses. Their position is further shaped by the fact that many of them are located in the Global South. He identifies three distinct processes that prefigure the development of a collective class identity: First, the proliferation of academic concepts used to define data work and data workers. Second, the process through which data workers and civil society have adopted, adapted, and reappropriated these definitions. And finally, the historical perspective in which these two processes are embedded, and the ways in which this new labour class has been politically conceptualized over the past decades. He argues that the shifting concepts used by scholars and the proliferation of names adopted by workers themselves are both signs of an ongoing process of class identity formation. Read the chapter here Casilli, Antonio A. (2026), ‘The Making of the Data Working Class’, in P. Tubaro (ed.) Digital Labour in a Turbulent Era, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, at HAL science

The 9th edition of INDL (International Network on Digital Labour) was held in Geneva, at the International Labour Organization (ILO), from 9 to 11 September. Bringing together almost 120 presenters across 35 sessions, the conference provided three days of discussion and exchange around current research on data and platforms work. The ILO was a particularly fitting setting for the conference, having just adopted, in June 2026, the Convention on Decent Work in the Platform Economy (No. 193), the first international labour standard specifically dedicated to workers in the platform economy. Data labour was explored through a wide range of perspectives, across eight topics, including Gender and Digital Labour, New Frameworks for a “Human-Centric” AI Supply Chain, and The Role of Social Dialogue in Governing AI-Mediated Work. Some of these presentations were given by DipLab members. Paola Tubaro presented her article, Not all equal: A multidimensional vulnerability indicator for platform data workers, which explores data workers and their relationship to data work through the lens of vulnerability. She also closed the conference with an engaging roundtable, chaired by Uma Rani and joined by Timothy Newman and Alex Taylor. The discussion focused on Setting up an Interdisciplinary Research Agenda on AI Supply Chains. On the second day of the conference, Antonio Casilli presented his article Deep Labor: Beyond the Platform/BPO Divide in Data Work. The paper challenges the distinction between platform work and BPO work, proposing instead to examine both through the broader lens of data work, or “deep labor”. Mathilde Abel presented the paper Extracting Workers’ Cognition: An NLP Approach to AI Annotation Guidelines, co-written with Thomas Le Bonniec, who also presented One Arm of the Assembly Line of AI: EU Data Workers and Privacy Regulation. The first paper explores how AI annotation work requires workers to combine cognitive skills, such as interpreting and evaluating content, with the ability to adapt to specific client requirements. The second paper examines how EU data workers’ personal data is collected and exploited by AI companies, arguing that giving workers greater control over their own data could also strengthen data protection for the wider public. Other DipLab-associated members also presented their work. Matheus Viana Braz presented Psychosocial and Health-Related Risks in AI Value Chains: The Case of Latin American Data Workers, which explores burnout risks among Latin American data workers, highlighting how high work demands, income insecurity, algorithmic surveillance, and limited autonomy can contribute to psychological exhaustion and disengagement. He also presented another paper, Digital Autoethnography and the Affective Economy of Data Work in the Global South, in which he draws on nine months of personal experience working on microtask platforms to examine how data work affects workers’ mental health and emotional well-being. Lucas Santos presented an article entitled Regulating Platform Labour in Brazil: Precarity, Contestation, and Workers’ Agency, exploring the debate surrounding the regulation of platform-mediated work in Brazil. Myriam Raymond presented her article From Atomized Workers to Digital Solidarities: Everyday Resistance among Egyptian Data Workers, which examines how Egyptian data workers use Facebook groups to share information, support one another, and develop collective forms of resistance against precarious working conditions and platform control. One of the keynotes was delivered by Julian Posada, a DiPLab-associated researcher, under the title [Data Work and Territory: The Latin American Experience]. Drawing on his new book, Platform Extractivism, he examined the reality of data work in Latin America, with a particular focus on Venezuela. His keynote explored the political-economic factors that have shaped Venezuela’s position within global AI supply chains, highlighting how data work is deeply embedded in broader economic and territorial relations. But the conference was also marked by several important announcements. One of the most significant was the formal notification of Teleperformance regarding the protection of Kenyan data workers. On the final day of the conference, the first South Asian chapter of the International Network on Digital Labour (INDL) was also announced. The workshop will take place in Pondicherry from February 1 to 5, 2027. Finally, it was announced that the next edition of INDL, INDL-10, will take place in São Paulo.

Antonio Casilli was invited by François Picard on FRANCE 24 to debate Tariq Krim and Marion Carré about a potential AI doomsday. You’ll find the video bellow

On September 4, Antonio Casilli delivered the closing keynote at the Swiss Sociological Association Congress, which took place at the University of Fribourg and the Haute École de Travail Social de Fribourg, around the 2026 theme “Communities & Societies in Movement.” His keynote was titled “Qui produit l’intelligence artificielle ? La création d’une classe ouvrière des données” (“Who Produces Artificial Intelligence? The Emergence of a Data Working Class”). In his keynote, Casilli discussed the emergence of two social classes around data work. The first, which he describes as the “digital middle class,” consists of qualified data workers, such as data analysts, engineers, and machine learning researchers. The second category consists of a much larger, yet highly invisibilised, workforce of data workers. These workers perform tasks such as data annotation, content moderation, and rating or evaluating AI-generated responses. Many of these workers are concentrated in developing countries and occupy lower positions in the AI supply chain. Casilli argues that the apparent divide between these two groups is not as deep as it may seem. His central argument is that the supposed divide between qualified workers in the technology sector and supposedly unqualified data workers is more closely linked to differences in social and political positioning than to differences in skills or competencies. A second key argument concerns the consequences of this distinction for solidarity among workers across the AI supply chain. By framing some workers as “qualified” and others as “unqualified,” this division contributes to a broader separation between “digital middle class” in the Global North and data workers in the Global South. His keynote also highlighted the transnational conditions that could foster the emergence of global solidarity among workers across the AI data supply chain.

Antonio Casilli and Julian Posada were both invited by the independent media outlet Democracy Now! to discuss their research on the hidden human labor behind artificial intelligence. In the interview, they take a deep dive into the hidden AI data workforce; the men and women whose labor makes chatbots and large language models (LLMs) possible, and who are increasingly becoming the new factory workers of the digital economy. Drawing on their research in Kenya, Madagascar, and Venezuela, they explore the working conditions of these workers across global labor markets, highlighting the significant inequalities between countries and, most importantly, bringing workers’ own voices to the forefront as they fight for dignity, recognition, and better working conditions. To see Antonio Casilli’s Interview click here And to see Julian Posada’s interview click here

Congratulation to Antonio Casilli for his nomination by the Villa Albertine, the French Institute for Culture and Education to represent DiPLab at SXSW. South by Southwest is a major culture and technology festival that will take place in Texas next March. Antonio Casilli will discuss AI, labor, and the environment, and this festival will also be an incredible way to amplify the voices of of activists workers and scholars, from all around the world. Unfortunately, voting has already been closed. Looking forward to hearing Antonio’s speech, “It Takes a Planet (and Millions of Workers) to Make AI,” should it be selected.