The corporate world has a heavily vested interest in injecting AI into every part of our lives.

As individuals we can’t stop the AI wave. But we can learn how these technologies are built, who they exploit, and decide for ourselves, as much as possible, how we choose to use it

It would have been easy to frame these gig workers in the weepiest way, as people stripped of their dignity, or, from the rosier perspective, as working class heroes.

The truth is it’s more nuanced than that. Anne and Vic are people who have lives and needs and mixed feelings on AI’s impact on SF

Tons of people responded, around 20 in the first day alone.

All but one asked about compensation. We can’t pay our sources, so of the people I found on Craigslist, only “Anne” ended up in the piece.

But the point is this sector of the gig economy is huge, obscure, and vulnerable to exploitation

To find sources, I met them where they’re at: Craigslist.

I posted two calls for sources for this story and tagged it under “AI” and “gigs”