I am pleased to announce the publication of the Spanish translation of my book En Attendant les Robots. “Esperando a los robots. Investigación sobre el trabajo del clic,” has been translated in Spanish by Juan Riveros. In November 2021 the book was published by Punto de Vista Editores in Madrid, and later, in December 2022, it reached the shelves of Latin America through LOM Ediciones in Santiago.
In this book, I delve into an increasingly pertinent question: Can humanity finally rid itself of labor through the advent of robots?
Since IBM’s Deep Blue’s victory over world chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997, to the deployment of the GoogLeNet convolutional neural network for diagnosing cancer with the same accuracy as a medical doctor in 2017, the successive triumphs of artificial intelligence (AI) have been widely celebrated and reported in the media. It’s become difficult for the public to believe that machines are incapable of “thinking like humans.” And while this may not be entirely accurate at the moment, common sense suggests that such a future is imminent.
However, voices like that of the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein have cautioned us. He argued that artificial intelligence doesn’t necessarily mean machines possess cognitive abilities or that they can exist without humans willing to teach them how to think. Computers “exhibit intelligence,” but this is merely the result of mechanically executing given instructions, which can be defined as elementary procedures or “atomized tasks.” Thus, the scientific program of artificial intelligence becomes inseparable from the art of controlling humans and disciplining their activities.
Through my research, I try to unveil the “deception” behind these forms of labor involved in training and regulating AI. This book offers a critical view of the reality of digital labor: the exploitation of thousands of people on subsistence wages, subjected to the algorithmic management of platforms, which are on their way to reconfiguring and rendering human labor a precarious commodity.
This translation by Juan Riveros is not just a bridge to reach Spanish-speaking readers; it is an invitation to reflect on our collective future in the digital age. It’s about understanding the complex interplay between humans and machines, the unseen labor that powers artificial intelligence, and the societal implications of these technologies. My hope is that this work sparks further discussion and critical examination of the path we are currently on, towards a future where technology serves humanity, not the other way around.
Click here, if you want to know more about my book tour in Chile.