The Invisible Labour Chain of AI Platforms
Created by: Jiali Yang, Jiayi Wu, Jianing Sun
Overview: This project is a visual exploration of the hidden labour behind artificial intelligence. Rather than presenting AI as an autonomous technology, the project reveals how user data, material infrastructure, gig workers, engineers and platform narratives work together to create the illusion of intelligent automation. Through a layered cybernetic figure, it argues that AI does not eliminate human labour—it reorganises, fragments and conceals it, encouraging viewers to rethink the social and material systems that make AI possible.
Created with: ChatGPT, Image Generator, Canva, Photoshop, PowerPoint
Concept
Poster description: The poster presents a giant cybernetic figure whose body opens to reveal the hidden layers of AI production, including infrastructure, engineers, gig workers and user data. Labels, diagrams and annotations explain how each layer contributes to AI systems, challenging the idea that artificial intelligence operates independently of human labour.