Is your data getting colonized?
It's Been a Minute
NPR
4.7 • 9.2K Ratings
🗓️ 11 May 2026
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
AI has impressed a lot of people with its output. But even though it’s sold as an autonomous, inhuman tool, there’s a lot of human work that goes into it. While that work does happen in the US, many AI laborers also live overseas – and get paid less to do it. Everything that goes into making AI function – from the data it feeds on to the labor that trains it – smacks of colonialism, according to some scholars and researchers. This has led to the emergence of the term "data colonialism." Is this comparison a fitting one, and what are the broader implications of data colonialism for society at large?
First, Brittany chats with Sam Mallari, Network Content Strategy Manager on the NPR Member Partnership Team, about when she first noticed the human hands behind AI's work. Then, Brittany gets deeper into it with Regine Cabato, a freelance journalist based in the Philippines who’s written about AI laborers there for The Washington Post, and Ulises Mejias, professor at SUNY Oswego and co-author of the book Data Grab the New Colonialism of Big Tech and How to Fight Back.
(00:00) Does AI really do everything by itself?
(04:20) The human labor behind AI
(06:46) The work conditions of overseas AI laborers
(09:43) Why AI companies recruit some workers from the Global South
(14:56) The narrative of AI's magic
(18:04) Is AI shaped by colonialism?
(24:53) Is an ethical generative AI possible?
For more episodes about AI and modern life, check out:
You might be suffering from AI brain fry
Me and my partner don't see eye-to-eye about AI. Now what?
The hard work of having "good taste"
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So Brittany, I have a question for you. |
| 0:03.0 | Okay. Have you ever been in a Waymo, like those self-driving cars? Okay, I have seen a lot of Waymo's, but I have never been in a waymo. I've seen a lot on a trip to Los Angeles I took last year. Me as a driver, like I was freaked out to see them on the road, like, you know, a car with nobody in the front seat. So I have yet to get inside one. I'm still kind of scared. |
| 0:23.3 | What about you? |
| 0:24.0 | No, same. road like, you know, a car with nobody in the front seat. So I have yet to get inside one. I'm still |
| 0:22.1 | kind of scared. What about you? No, same. I rode in a Waymo only once in my life. And it was like a |
| 0:29.0 | final destination fever dream, honestly. Oh my gosh. That sounds horrifying. What do you mean |
| 0:35.5 | final destination? What do you mean by that? |
| 0:44.7 | It just went against all of my driving instincts. I live in L.A. and everyone knows the L.A. left turn, |
| 0:50.3 | where you speed up and enter the middle of the intersection even when it's yellow. But the Waymo slowed down and it just felt wrong. Like it didn't match the vibe of any other driver on the road. |
| 0:55.6 | Sam, before we get any further, I have to introduce you to our lovely listeners. Everyone, |
| 1:00.0 | this is Sam Malari. She is a network content strategy manager on the NPR member partnership team. |
| 1:07.2 | Oh, it's a lot of powerful words together. It's a tongue twister. You did good. |
| 1:11.7 | Basically, it means I'm the messenger between NPR and our 243 member stations that make up the NPR network. |
| 1:18.4 | Ooh, I love that. But anyway, back to Waymo's. |
| 1:22.2 | Yes, they are everywhere. People used to say that the L.A. car was a Prius. |
| 1:26.7 | But I think Waymo's have kind of taken over. |
| 1:29.9 | And ever since, my only experience in one, I kind of ignored them until I came across a shocking piece of news through my Filipino corner of the internet. |
| 1:40.9 | What did you see? |
| 1:42.0 | So basically, Waymo's chief safety officer, Mauricio |
| 1:44.9 | Peña, was in a Senate hearing in February about the safety of autonomous vehicles. |
| 1:49.8 | Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey asked him if the cars use human assistance. |
| 1:54.5 | Senator, they provide guidance. They do not remotely drive the vehicles. As you stated, |
... |
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