"Ghost work: The labor that powers AI"

Think about the last time you searched for something on the Web. Ever wonder who trained the search engine ranking algorithm? Ghost work is the hidden human labor that powers modern AI systems, not only for web search, but also for content moderation, image recognition, spam detection, and a host of other problem domains. This talk will shed light on this hidden workforce by introducing you to the humans who train modern AI systems and step in when these systems have low confidence. 

Through the combination of qualitative and quantitative research, Siddharth Suri will show how workers self-organize by building their own collaboration network. He will also discuss the implications of ghost work on the overall future of work. Most of the research in this talk is from the recently published book, Ghost Work: How to Stop Silicon Valley from Building a New Global Underclass, coauthored by Mary L. Gray. The book is the culmination of his recent work studying the crowd workers who power many modern apps, websites and artificial intelligence systems.

Suri is a principal researcher at Microsoft Research.