Antonio Casilli, author of the new book Waiting for Robots: The Hired Hands of Automation, draws on his fieldwork across South America, Africa, and Europe to examine how AI companies serve as modern gatekeepers of global labor migration.
His research demonstrates how these companies extract labor from low-income countries while ensuring workers remain physically separated from the wealthy nations they serve. Mass deportations and AI deregulation function as complementary policies that deepen economic displacement, effectively creating a new class of "foreigners to work." Casilli examines the rise of multilingual data work platforms and the erosion of employment standards, unpacking AI’s labor force and its impact on global inequality. He concludes with a discussion of regulatory solutions and emerging movements working to bridge this gap.
The event was by BKC Faculty Associate Moira Weigel.