Seminar | Ghost Work: The Invisible Labour Behind AI
Date and Time
Wednesday, 15th of October, 2025 | 12.00 PM CET
About the event
How can we protect the 150 million data workers behind our AI technology?
This question lay at the heart of the seminar 'Ghostwork: de onzichtbare arbeid achter AI' (Ghost Work: Ghostwork: The Invisible Labor Behind AI), which took place on the 15th of October 2025 at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. The event was organised by gig economy researcher Martijn Arets and Tessa Duzee, lecturer and researcher in Digital Media & Ethics.
While AI may seem like a magic box of tricks, behind the scenes millions of people are working to annotate and correct data, often in poor conditions and for low pay.
The seminar explored who these data workers are, how their situation could be improved and how we, as both users and creators, could incorporate labour into the conversation about responsible AI.
Key questions included:
- Who are these people?
- Where do they live?
- How do they find work?
- What are their challenges?
These questions was answered from different perspectives:
- Excerpts from the documentary Ghost Workers, directed by Lisette Olsthoorn, were screened to explore who data workers are and the challenges they face.
- Martijn Arets shared footage of data workers in Kenya.
- Fiona Dragstra, Director of the WageIndicator Foundation, explained how the organisation strives to improve working conditions in sectors like the textile industry.
- Finally, Nanda Piersma, Director of the Centre of Expertise 'Applied AI' and a Crown-appointed member of the Social and Economic Council (SER), discussed why labour isn't included in discussions about responsible AI and how we can change this as AI users.
Key Takeaways
The context: Unlike other gig markets, such as taxi and delivery services, the data work market is characterised as a business-to-business market. In such a market, organisations are responsible for their own supply chains. As Martijn Arets pointed out to the 80 students in the room, 'Whether or not to exploit workers is a conscious choice. Not exploiting them is also a choice.'
What can be done: In a market where organisations exploit fragmentation and information asymmetry, facilitating connections is more important than ever. 'Think of trade unions and cooperatives. The key to solutions or resistance lies in finding and connecting nodes with which you can create critical mass. Consider, for example, (Dutch) organisations such as SURF and Public Spaces.'
However, creating fairer alternatives takes time. 'It is not realistic to expect alternatives to be as smooth and easy to use as the current dominant players from day one.' Martijn Arets said. These organisations can build on years of innovation, learning and further development. 'And we, as users, have paid for it.'
The biggest question: The biggest question during the event was: “What can we do as individuals?”. 'I don’t think you can place the responsibility on the individual. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t do anything as an individual.' Making conscious decisions and engaging in conversation can help to highlight and address important issues.
Event Recording (in Dutch)
The video of the event can be viewed via this link.
You might be interested in the following related content:
- From Bologna to Big Tech: critical lessons about data work and AI
- Data workers and AI: moving from 'invisibility' to better working conditions
