Anthropologist Joseph Wilson has detailed the human workforce and physical infrastructure supporting artificial intelligence in his book Humans of AI. In an interview with BetaKit, Wilson explained that popular characterizations of AI as autonomous or cloud-based obscure the vast network of engineers and contract workers who build hardware, prepare data, and maintain software systems.
Hands-on labor in chip fabrication
To study hardware development, Wilson spent 18 months embedded as an intern inside a Toronto chip manufacturer, referred to in the book by the pseudonym NextChipAI. The firm creates silicon hardware roughly the size of a soda cracker designed specifically to execute neural network workloads. Wilson observed that engineers relied on physical intuition and sensory checks—including smelling chips to identify production errors—while working long hours to translate circuit designs onto silicon. He noted a disconnect between these engineers' technical realism and corporate marketing narratives that downplay human effort to pitch autonomous systems to investors.
Global ghost work and content moderation
The study also highlights the role of remote data annotators, drawing on work by anthropologist Mary Gray regarding ghost work. Large technology platforms rely on task-based workers, largely located in the Global South, to tag training images for applications like autonomous driving and to remove violent or explicit material from datasets. Wilson noted that these workers often operate under non-disclosure agreements on a piecework basis, lacking job security and healthcare benefits despite performing critical data filtering.
Deconstructing tech marketing and criti-hype
Wilson warns against anthropomorphizing AI software, pointing out that production models are trained and fixed rather than continuously self-learning. He also addresses the phenomenon of criti-hype, where public debates focused on existential risks inadvertently validate corporate marketing by framing AI as omnipotent. According to Wilson, treating the technology as an abstract force distracts from immediate concerns surrounding labor conditions, data transparency, and regulatory oversight.
AI-generated editorial illustration; not a documentary photograph.
Source: Q&A: An anthropologist pulls back the curtain on the humans behind AI
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