Waiting for Robots

An essential investigation that reveals the labor of human workers hidden behind a curtain of apparent technological automation. Artificial Intelligence fuels both enthusiasm and panic. Technologists are inclined to give their creations leeway, pretend theyre animated beings, and consider them efficient. As users, we may complain when these technologies dont obey, or worry about their influence on our choices and our livelihoods. And yet, we also yearn for their convenience, see ourselves reflected in them, and treat them as something entirely new. But when we overestimate the automation of these tools, award-winning author Antonio A. Casilli argues, we fail to recognize how our fellow humans are essential to their efficiency. The danger is not that robots will take our jobs, but that humans will have to do theirs. In this bracing and powerful book, Casilli uses up-to-the-minute research to show how todays technologies, including AI, continue to exploit human laboreven ours. He connects the diverse activities of todays tech laborers: platform workers, like Uber drivers and Airbnb hosts; micro workers, including those performing atomized tasks like data entry on Amazon Mechanical Turk; and the rest of us, as we evaluate text or images to show were not robots, react to Facebook posts, or approve or improve the output of generative AI. As Casilli shows us, algorithms, search engines, and voice assistants wouldnt function without unpaid or underpaid human contributions. Further, he warns that if we fail to recognize this human work, we risk a dark future for all human labor. Waiting for Robots urges us to move beyond the simplistic notion that machines are intelligent and autonomous. As the proverbial Godot, robots are the bearers of a messianic promise that is always postponed. Instead of bringing prosperity for all, they discipline the workforce, so we dont dream of a world without drudgery and exploitation. Casillis eye-opening book makes clear that most automation requires human laborand likely always willshedding new light on todays consequences and tomorrows threats of failing to recognize and compensate the click workers of today.