Laser etching on 4 iMacs
Many tasks supposedly performed by algorithms and artificial intelligence software are actually still performed by humans, either in huge click farms located in emerging economies, or by people working at home or on their smartphones as so-called micro-jobs. This mammoth human task includes the training of artificial intelligences. Stefan Hurtig occupies four tools of this digital factory labor with an adaptation of the central slogan of the Communist Manifesto (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Instead of “Workers of all countries unite!” he engraved the words “Precarians of all countries unite!” onto the screens of iMacs. Sociologists use the term precariat to describe those in especially badly paid and insecure employment.
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