Mark Graham | Lightnews

Mark Graham @geoplace.bsky.social · 10d

Workers powering the AI industry face terrible conditions, but they shouldn’t have to.

Interview with me in Yahoo News: www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Workers powering the AI industry face terrible conditions, but they shouldn’t have to – interview

Mark Graham, founder of the Fairwork initiative, notes that most of the human labour in the AI supply chain is data work in low-income countries done under poor conditions.

www.yahoo.com

Mark Graham @geoplace.bsky.social · 10d

Fairwork’s AI Supply Chain Assessment: Appen report is now LIVE.

- 15 changes were implemented by Appen during the assessment period.

- The report also highlights areas for further progress, including pay, worker protections, and transparency.

Read the full report here: fair.work/en/fw/public...

Mark Graham @geoplace.bsky.social · 16d

If AI is going to be fair, its supply chains have to be too. That’s why we’ve launched Fairwork Certification, working with lead firms to push higher standards all the way down their chains. Details here:

fair.work/wp-content/u...

Mark Graham @geoplace.bsky.social · 16d

A new @towardsfairwork.bsky.social assessment of Sama is out.

It looks at the people doing the invisible data work that keeps AI running for companies in sectors from driverless cars to online retail.

Read the scorecard and our report here:

🔗 fair.work/en/fw/public...

Oxford Internet Institute @oii.ox.ac.uk · Nov 12

ICYMI: New interview with @geoplace.bsky.social @towardsfairwork.bsky.social speaking to German newspaper Der Freitag about the hidden human cost of the AI revolution. www.freitag.de/autoren/der-...

„Die Arbeitsbedingungen sind brutal“: Über die geheimen Malocher hinter ChatGPT

Hinter jedem KI-Bild steckt Handarbeit: Menschen in Kenia, Indien oder auf den Philippinen schuften stundenlang für Hungerlöhne, um Maschinen klüger zu machen. Im Gespräch enthüllt Mark Graham die uns...

www.freitag.de

Nina Scholz @ninascholz.bsky.social · Nov 10

KI klingt nach Zukunft – aber sie lebt von menschlicher, unsichtbarer Arbeit. Ich habe für @freitag.de mit @geoplace.bsky.social über sein Buch „Feeding the Machine“ gesprochen – und darüber, was KI wirklich kostet. Leseempfehlung für alle, die hinter die Kulissen der "KI-Unternehmen" schauen wollen

„Die Arbeitsbedingungen sind brutal“: Über die geheimen Malocher hinter ChatGPT

Hinter jedem KI-Bild steckt Handarbeit: Menschen in Kenia, Indien oder auf den Philippinen schuften stundenlang für Hungerlöhne, um Maschinen klüger zu machen. Im Gespräch enthüllt Mark Graham die uns...

www.freitag.de

Mark Graham @geoplace.bsky.social · Oct 30

I’ve got a new chapter out with Adam Badger, Alessio Bertolini, Fabian Ferrari & Funda Ustek Spilda in the forthcoming Handbook of Labour Geography. In it, we unpack the Fairwork action-research method.

Read: www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/b...

www.elgaronline.com

Oxford Social Sciences Division @socsci.ox.ac.uk · Oct 24

We see only the polished face of AI- but behind it lies a web of people, data & decisions shaping who gains & who’s left behind. Join @geoplace.bsky.social @towardsfairwork.bsky.social @oii.ox.ac.uk to explore fairer AI
📅 29 Oct 📍Museum of Oxford 🔗 www.socsci.ox.ac.uk/unveiling-th... #ESRCFestival

Unveiling the human behind AI: A Rubik's cube journey to Fair Work

29 October, late morning - 4pm, Museum of Oxford

www.socsci.ox.ac.uk

Mark Graham @geoplace.bsky.social · Oct 13

Friends and colleagues in Oxford, join us for this event at the end of the month.

festivalofsocialscience.com/events/unvei...

Oxford Social Policy and Intervention @dspi-oxford.bsky.social · Oct 9

📢Book your free spot at our first seminar of term!
Join Prof Mark Graham @oii.ox.ac.uk for: “The hidden human labour powering AI: Introducing the Fairwork Action Research Project”
🗓16 October 4pm
📍In-person & online
Register now: talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/760...
@geoplace.bsky.social

'The hidden human labour powering AI: Introducing the Fairwork Action Research Project'
Professor Mark Graham has short curly dark hair. He is wearing a black shirt.

Mark Graham @geoplace.bsky.social · Sep 23

Organizers:
Mark Graham (Oxford Internet Institute, Univ. of Oxford)
Uma Rani (International Labour Organization)

We welcome interdisciplinary work from all career stages.
#AAG2026 #AI #TechJustice #GlobalProductionNetworks #Labor #ClimateJustice #DigitalColonialism

Mark Graham @geoplace.bsky.social · Sep 23

Submission details:
• Abstract (≤250 words)
• Short bio (≤100 words)
• Deadline: Oct 14
• Send to mark.graham@oii.ox.ac.uk and amara@ilo.org
Subject line: AAG 2026 AI Production Networks Session

Mark Graham @geoplace.bsky.social · Sep 23

Guiding questions include:
• Where are the critical nodes and chokepoints?
• How can transparency reveal hidden flows of minerals, capital, data, labor?
• Which policy levers reshape incentives?
• Where do labor & community struggles gain traction?
• How can design choices reduce harm?

Mark Graham @geoplace.bsky.social · Sep 23

This session explores how value and profit concentrate in the Global North while environmental harms, precarious labor, and extractive practices fall elsewhere.

We want papers that map these geographies of harm and identify leverage points for change.

Mark Graham @geoplace.bsky.social · Sep 23

Call for Papers: Locating Power & Resistance in Global AI Production Networks

AAG 2026 Annual Meeting

AI is not just “in the cloud.” It relies on global supply chains, with power concentrated in a few countries and corporations.

fair.work/en/fw/blog/c...

#AAG2026

Call for Papers: Locating Power and Resistance Within Global AI Production Networks

American Association of Geographers (AAG) 2026 Annual Meeting

fair.work

Mark Graham @geoplace.bsky.social · Sep 8

The cube is not just a puzzle. It is a lens that reveals both what AI shows and what it conceals.

This piece was made with brilliant designers John Philip Sage and Carlos Romo-Melgar.

We’ll be exhibiting it (and giving many away) at the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences in Oxford on 29 Oct.

Mark Graham @geoplace.bsky.social · Sep 8

Across every side, glass-like insect forms creep. Not natural but synthetic hybrids, they act as metaphors for the hidden systems that power AI. Like insects in an ecosystem, they expose dependencies we rarely notice.

Mark Graham @geoplace.bsky.social · Sep 8

AI Products: You use it. It uses you.
Invisible Labour: Invisible labour, indispensable skill.
Data Assets: Extraction fuels machine learning.
Footprint: Digital demand, ecological debt.
Capital and Ownership: Cash walls. Closed doors.
Rules and Voids: Governance gaps widen risks.

Mark Graham @geoplace.bsky.social · Sep 8

AI often looks smooth and solved, like a Rubik’s cube. But turn it in your hands and each side reveals something hidden.

Oxford Internet Institute @oii.ox.ac.uk · Aug 14

"[We need to] understand that when we use these products and services, we're not just interacting with a machine. We're interacting with many, many real people of flesh and blood, who often work under terrible conditions." - Prof. Mark Graham @geoplace.bsky.social

globalnyt.dk/professor-ka...

Professor kalder dem for digitale sweatshops: Techgiganternes usynlige arbejdskraft holder internettet sikkert | Globalnyt

Mark Graham husker dengang for godt 16 år siden, da fiberkabler blev gravet ned på tværs af Østafrika og forbandt regionen med resten af verden på en helt n ...

globalnyt.dk

Mark Graham @geoplace.bsky.social · Jul 22

The new @oecd-ocde.bsky.social Fairwork AI Ratings report shows who powers AI and how Humans in the Loop earned a 6/10 score after 14 policy changes.

@towardsfairwork.bsky.social now offers certification so buyers can demand higher standards across AI supply chains.

wp.oecd.ai/app/uploads/...

wp.oecd.ai