Invisible Work in AI: From the Assembly Line to the Algorithm

Abstract. A dominant view describes AI as the quest “to solve intelligence” — a solution supposedly to be found in the secret logic of the mind or in the deep physiology of the brain, such as in its complex neural networks. This talk argues, to the contrary, that the inner code of AI is not constituted by the imitation of biological intelligence, but by the intelligence of labour and social relations. It is renown that modern computation was born when Charles Babbage applied the principle of the division of labour to the algorithm of his Different Engine in the early 19th century. Today it is evident, likewise, that AI is a project to capture the knowledge of individual and collective behaviours and encode them into algorithmic models to automate the most diverse productive tasks: from image recognition and object manipulation to language translation and decision making. The lecture will explore how the history of the algorithm form has deep social origins in the automation of labour that are often rendered invisible.

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A lecture by Matteo Pasquinelli professor at the University of Art and Design in Karlsruhe and coordinator of the research group KIM on artificial intelligence and media philosophy.

Moderated by Carmina Crusafon, professor at the UAB, specialist in business models, digital media ecosystem and communication policies.