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This report by Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 9009 draws on a survey and in-depth interviews to shed light on the working conditions of North American data workers:

Despite being touted as the definitive technological breakthrough of this century, the conditions under which AI models and tools are produced by data workers, in a highly opaque and fissured global supply chain, are still underexplored. Studies of data workers in the Global South have begun to fill gaps in knowledge about the low-paid outsourced labor behind AI, but less is known about U.S. data workers’ conditions.

The report concludes with a discussion of how workers can build collective power, and how policymakers can take worker perspectives seriously as they address data workers’ labor conditions.