[SIGCIS-Members] CFP: ILWCH Special Issue on the Global Labor History of AI

[Susannah Glickman]

Dear all, 

Excited to announce this special issue on the Global Labor History of AI for the International Labor and Working Class Journal <https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20060412/global-labor-history-artificial-intelligence>, which I am editing with Aaron Benanav. 

AI and Labor’s Dual Role
Advances in fields such as cybernetics, information technology, data processing, expert systems, operations research, computer numerical control (CNC), telematics, and “generative artificial intelligence” have been used since at least the 1940s to threaten, control, and sometimes replace workers engaged in mental labor—effectively making this labor “disappear” in the
process of production. Yet the development and maintenance of these systems rely on vast amounts of often-hidden labor, including the work of keypunch operators, systems analysts, coders, switchboard operators, data processors, technicians and engineers, data-entry clerks, IT support staff, cable layers, infrastructure workers, and technical support and customer service
staff. Despite their crucial roles, these workers are frequently rendered invisible as companies downplay the labor required to create these systems. Through various means, companies have also circumvented efforts by these workers to organize, associate, and fight back.


Understanding AI in a Global Historical Context
We seek to understand recent developments in generative artificial intelligence within the longer history of computer and digital work. How have AI and earlier technologies been used to either promote or obscure the realities of labor? How do governments, global financial institutions, management consultancies, and other actors participate in promoting these narratives, and why?
Why is there often a stark contrast between popular narratives of AI and the material realities of the labor involved? While much of this history has unfolded in the global North, we are especially interested in research that illuminates the labor dimensions of computing and AI across different global contexts. 


• What forms of labor are required to create and maintain computer and AI systems, and how have these roles evolved over time?
• What is the impact of AI on traditional labor hierarchies and the division of mental and manual labor?
• What is the relationship between AI, surveillance, and the intensification of labor in various workplaces?
• In what ways do companies obscure the amount and types of labor involved in developing these technologies?
• How does the development of these technologies intersect with issues of gender, race, and class in labor history?
• How have AI and other technological advancements impacted labor markets differently in the global South compared to the global North?
• What historical parallels can be drawn between the current AI hype cycle and past technological revolutions?
• How have governments and policymakers shaped the labor dynamics of AI, both historically and in the present?
• What strategies have workers and labor movements employed to respond to the rise of AI in the workplace?

Please submit your 250-word abracts and circulate to friends and colleagues!

All the best,
Susannah
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