Ghost Work

How to Stop Silicon Valley from Building a New Global Underclass

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A 2019 Financial Times Critic’s Pick

In the spirit of Nickel and Dimed, a necessary and revelatory expose of the invisible human workforce that powers the web—and that foreshadows the true future of work.

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Ghost Work by Mary Gray and Siddharth Suri

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“The new economy isn’t frictionless. The worker of today isn’t autonomous or empowered. The reality: millions of isolated human beings stitch together our platform economy and shoulder hidden costs.  Ghost Work is groundbreaking, a painstaking portrait of an invisible world. We can only choose a different future of work if we truly see today’s workers.”

—Felicia Wong, President and CEO, Roosevelt Institute and author of The Hidden Rules of Race: Barriers to an Inclusive Economy

Ghost Work
2019-02-09T09:14:48-05:00

—Felicia Wong, President and CEO, Roosevelt Institute and author of The Hidden Rules of Race: Barriers to an Inclusive Economy

“The new economy isn’t frictionless. The worker of today isn’t autonomous or empowered. The reality: millions of isolated human beings stitch together our platform economy and shoulder hidden costs.  Ghost Work is groundbreaking, a painstaking portrait of an invisible world. We can only choose a different future of work if we truly see today’s workers.”
"If you think you know what's going on with digital labor, think again. This path-breaking book is sure to re-set the debate about technology and the future of work. Based on extensive ethnography and survey research, Ghost Work is a must read for anyone who cares about a humane future for those of us who need to work for a living. A game changer."

—Juliet B. Schor, Professor of Sociology at Boston College

Ghost Work
2019-02-09T09:15:20-05:00

—Juliet B. Schor, Professor of Sociology at Boston College

"If you think you know what's going on with digital labor, think again. This path-breaking book is sure to re-set the debate about technology and the future of work. Based on extensive ethnography and survey research, Ghost Work is a must read for anyone who cares about a humane future for those of us who need to work for a living. A game changer."
"Ghost Work’s mosaic of personal narratives is a welcome bulwark against oversimplification of a phenomenon that is, by design, easy to overlook. The debate around a complex and troubling labor market comes to life through the stories of its most vulnerable participants, lending depth and urgency to the authors' suggested interventions."

—Jonathan Zittrain, George Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School, Professor of Computer Science at the Harvard School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, and Faculty Director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society

Ghost Work
2018-12-05T11:54:32-05:00

—Jonathan Zittrain, George Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School, Professor of Computer Science at the Harvard School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, and Faculty Director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society

"Ghost Work’s mosaic of personal narratives is a welcome bulwark against oversimplification of a phenomenon that is, by design, easy to overlook. The debate around a complex and troubling labor market comes to life through the stories of its most vulnerable participants, lending depth and urgency to the authors' suggested interventions."
“The Wachowskis got it wrong. Humans aren't batteries for The Matrix, we are computer chips. In this fascinating book, Gray and Suri show us just how integral human online task workers are to the development of AI and the seamless operation of all the great internet services. Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand our technology-infused future.”

—Tim O'Reilly, CEO, O'Reilly Media

Ghost Work
2019-02-11T15:27:28-05:00

—Tim O'Reilly, CEO, O'Reilly Media

“The Wachowskis got it wrong. Humans aren't batteries for The Matrix, we are computer chips. In this fascinating book, Gray and Suri show us just how integral human online task workers are to the development of AI and the seamless operation of all the great internet services. Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand our technology-infused future.”
“As Microsoft Research senior analysts Gray and Suri note, some 20 million individuals worldwide make up an "on-demand gig economy"...in isolation, amid great uncertainty, without feedback or benefits, and under no clear labor laws. Drawing on a pioneering five-year study of workers in the United States and India, the authors provide a revealing view of this rapidly growing world of labor platforms (at the behest of well-known firms) hire workers represented by numbers rather than names. A sobering book for policymakers and anyone considering on-demand gigs.”

—Kirkus Reviews

Ghost Work
2019-03-12T16:24:32-04:00

—Kirkus Reviews

“As Microsoft Research senior analysts Gray and Suri note, some 20 million individuals worldwide make up an "on-demand gig economy"...in isolation, amid great uncertainty, without feedback or benefits, and under no clear labor laws. Drawing on a pioneering five-year study of workers in the United States and India, the authors provide a revealing view of this rapidly growing world of labor platforms (at the behest of well-known firms) hire workers represented by numbers rather than names. A sobering book for policymakers and anyone considering on-demand gigs.”
Read this book to learn which global companies are treating their contributing workers well and how to do business with them.

—Roberta E. Winter, New York Journal of Books

Ghost Work
2019-06-04T17:12:17-04:00

—Roberta E. Winter, New York Journal of Books

Read this book to learn which global companies are treating their contributing workers well and how to do business with them.
“AI’s dirty secret is just how much human labor lurks inside apparently automated systems...Their eye-opening analysis, combining historical perspective with deeply informed technical understandings and first-hand testimony from gig workers, offers not just a detailed diagnosis of current conditions but also a path towards a better future.”

—Paul Dourish, Chancellor's Professor, Informatics Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, UC Irvine

Ghost Work
2019-02-11T15:28:57-05:00

—Paul Dourish, Chancellor's Professor, Informatics Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, UC Irvine

“AI’s dirty secret is just how much human labor lurks inside apparently automated systems...Their eye-opening analysis, combining historical perspective with deeply informed technical understandings and first-hand testimony from gig workers, offers not just a detailed diagnosis of current conditions but also a path towards a better future.”
“This remarkable book uncovers fascinating personal stories of hidden online laborers. Much of what internet users believe to be automation is actually a shadow workforce critical to the function of modern technology. As one of the millions of hidden workers of the world, I know this book gets to the heart and true reality of work life for the people earning a living as digital pieceworkers. The authors also propose several technical and social fixes to collaboratively build a better future for everyone working in the shadows.”

—Rochelle LaPlante, digital labor rights activist

Ghost Work
2019-02-09T09:13:29-05:00

—Rochelle LaPlante, digital labor rights activist

“This remarkable book uncovers fascinating personal stories of hidden online laborers. Much of what internet users believe to be automation is actually a shadow workforce critical to the function of modern technology. As one of the millions of hidden workers of the world, I know this book gets to the heart and true reality of work life for the people earning a living as digital pieceworkers. The authors also propose several technical and social fixes to collaboratively build a better future for everyone working in the shadows.”
“Ghost Work provides much needed context about how automation and AI will change the tasks many humans perform rather than eliminate them, and some of the new forms of work these technologies create. It also brings out of the shadows many of the 'last-mile' human activities that are often left out of the story about technology’s impact on work. The authors clearly lay out the critical policy and business challenges ahead as this form of work continues to grow and also offer some interesting solutions.”

—James Manyika, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company and Chairperson and Director of the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI)

Ghost Work
2019-02-09T09:12:32-05:00

—James Manyika, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company and Chairperson and Director of the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI)

“Ghost Work provides much needed context about how automation and AI will change the tasks many humans perform rather than eliminate them, and some of the new forms of work these technologies create. It also brings out of the shadows many of the 'last-mile' human activities that are often left out of the story about technology’s impact on work. The authors clearly lay out the critical policy and business challenges ahead as this form of work continues to grow and also offer some interesting solutions.”
“This book reminds us that it's not just the 'future of work' but the present of work for millions of workers we need to be worried about.”

—Natalie Foster, Co-chair and co-founder, Economic Security Project and Senior Fellow at The Aspen Institute Future of Work Initiative

Ghost Work
2019-02-09T09:11:27-05:00

—Natalie Foster, Co-chair and co-founder, Economic Security Project and Senior Fellow at The Aspen Institute Future of Work Initiative

“This book reminds us that it's not just the 'future of work' but the present of work for millions of workers we need to be worried about.”
“Ghost Work should be read by every CEO whose company depends on online, on-demand workers and by every citizen concerned about potential influences of artificial intelligence technologies on the nature of work now and in the future...Gray and Suri notably offer creative suggestions for changes in the design of socio-technical systems that would yield vastly improved ways for computing technologies to work well with people, enhancing job prospects and societal well being.”

—Barbara J. Grosz, Higgins Professor of Natural Sciences in the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University

Ghost Work
2019-02-11T15:24:17-05:00

—Barbara J. Grosz, Higgins Professor of Natural Sciences in the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University

“Ghost Work should be read by every CEO whose company depends on online, on-demand workers and by every citizen concerned about potential influences of artificial intelligence technologies on the nature of work now and in the future...Gray and Suri notably offer creative suggestions for changes in the design of socio-technical systems that would yield vastly improved ways for computing technologies to work well with people, enhancing job prospects and societal well being.”
"Ghost Work portrays a world in which invisible armies of online workers are hired, tasked, managed, paid, and often fired by machines. This setting would make for gripping dystopian science fiction — were Mary Gray and Siddharth Suri not describing the present! Their book convinces me that greater transparency and regulatory oversight will be crucial for ensuring that the future of work 'works' well for platform workers, not just for the platforms that oversee them."

—David Autor, Ford Professor of Economics, MIT

Ghost Work
2019-01-11T13:20:05-05:00

—David Autor, Ford Professor of Economics, MIT

"Ghost Work portrays a world in which invisible armies of online workers are hired, tasked, managed, paid, and often fired by machines. This setting would make for gripping dystopian science fiction — were Mary Gray and Siddharth Suri not describing the present! Their book convinces me that greater transparency and regulatory oversight will be crucial for ensuring that the future of work 'works' well for platform workers, not just for the platforms that oversee them."
“Ghost Work adeptly raises the alarm about an emerging type of piecemeal employment, where workers literally become cogs in the great machine of our latest information technology, performing repetitive, often dehumanizing, work under the direction of software and artificial intelligence.”

—Martin Ford, New York Times Best Selling Author of Rise of the Robots and Architects of Intelligence

Ghost Work
2019-02-09T09:13:52-05:00

—Martin Ford, New York Times Best Selling Author of Rise of the Robots and Architects of Intelligence

“Ghost Work adeptly raises the alarm about an emerging type of piecemeal employment, where workers literally become cogs in the great machine of our latest information technology, performing repetitive, often dehumanizing, work under the direction of software and artificial intelligence.”
“Ghost Work is an instant classic. It is resonant of the great ethnographies that illuminated the manufacturing shop floor. But industries of the past relied on a lively community of people who worked, played, and lived together. The workers on the new digital assembly line are known neither to each other or to us. Their invisibility makes them ghosts. Gray and Suri enable us to see them, empathize with them, and recognize our own complicity in their situation. By emphasizing how even AI depends on human labor and by offering a rich account of the lives who provide that labor, the authors offer hope through a well-grounded tool kit of strategies for amelioration and action.”

—Margaret Levi, Director at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) and Professor of Political Science, Stanford University

Ghost Work
2019-02-09T09:14:24-05:00

—Margaret Levi, Director at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) and Professor of Political Science, Stanford University

“Ghost Work is an instant classic. It is resonant of the great ethnographies that illuminated the manufacturing shop floor. But industries of the past relied on a lively community of people who worked, played, and lived together. The workers on the new digital assembly line are known neither to each other or to us. Their invisibility makes them ghosts. Gray and Suri enable us to see them, empathize with them, and recognize our own complicity in their situation. By emphasizing how even AI depends on human labor and by offering a rich account of the lives who provide that labor, the authors offer hope through a well-grounded tool kit of strategies for amelioration and action.”
“Few of us realize the very human work that underlies the apps, search engines, and ever growing digital world we rely upon. Ghost Work powerfully reveals the often mind-numbing, volatile, and low wage work required to bridge what Gray and Suri deem ‘automation's last mile.’ This important work illuminates the holes in our labor standards and safety nets for the millions of workers operating in this borderline human / cyber space.”

—David Weil, Dean and Professor, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University and former Wage and Hour Administrator, US Department of Labor

Ghost Work
2019-02-09T09:16:37-05:00

—David Weil, Dean and Professor, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University and former Wage and Hour Administrator, US Department of Labor

“Few of us realize the very human work that underlies the apps, search engines, and ever growing digital world we rely upon. Ghost Work powerfully reveals the often mind-numbing, volatile, and low wage work required to bridge what Gray and Suri deem ‘automation's last mile.’ This important work illuminates the holes in our labor standards and safety nets for the millions of workers operating in this borderline human / cyber space.”
"Ghost Work by Mary Gray and Siddharth Suri provides one of the first in-depth on the ground studies of this world. Their portrait is sometimes damning and always provocative in terms of shining a light on the darker corners of our digital age, and exposing practices that are painfully hard for outsiders to track and all too easy for tech consumers to ignore."

—Gillian Tett, Chair FT Editorial Board

Ghost Work
2019-12-17T11:26:23-05:00

—Gillian Tett, Chair FT Editorial Board

"Ghost Work by Mary Gray and Siddharth Suri provides one of the first in-depth on the ground studies of this world. Their portrait is sometimes damning and always provocative in terms of shining a light on the darker corners of our digital age, and exposing practices that are painfully hard for outsiders to track and all too easy for tech consumers to ignore."
"Peering into a future that is now, anthropologist Mary Gray and computer scientist Siddharth Suri offer a must-read exposé of the new world of work on the global, digital assembly line-hidden, creative, human labor upon which we are all dependent and without which there would be no effective artificial intelligence."

—Alisse Waterston, Presidential Scholar and Professor, John Jay College of the City University of New York, and past-President, American Anthropological Association

Ghost Work
2019-01-04T14:01:55-05:00

—Alisse Waterston, Presidential Scholar and Professor, John Jay College of the City University of New York, and past-President, American Anthropological Association

"Peering into a future that is now, anthropologist Mary Gray and computer scientist Siddharth Suri offer a must-read exposé of the new world of work on the global, digital assembly line-hidden, creative, human labor upon which we are all dependent and without which there would be no effective artificial intelligence."
"Ghost Work is a stunning book, just the wake-up call we need to shatter the credulous belief that artificial intelligence is ‘replacing' workers. As Gray and Suri masterfully demonstrate, work isn’t disappearing in the age of AI; it is being hidden. Scrupulously researched and deeply humane, Ghost Work is at once a sobering reminder of what could happen if we allow algorithmic cruelty and exploitative employment practices to flourish and an inspiring call to defend the dignity and value of human labor."

—Virginia Eubanks, cofounder of Our Knowledge, Our Power (OKOP), and Associate Professor in the Department of Women's Studies at the University at Albany, SUNY

Ghost Work
2019-02-09T09:16:17-05:00

—Virginia Eubanks, cofounder of Our Knowledge, Our Power (OKOP), and Associate Professor in the Department of Women's Studies at the University at Albany, SUNY

"Ghost Work is a stunning book, just the wake-up call we need to shatter the credulous belief that artificial intelligence is ‘replacing' workers. As Gray and Suri masterfully demonstrate, work isn’t disappearing in the age of AI; it is being hidden. Scrupulously researched and deeply humane, Ghost Work is at once a sobering reminder of what could happen if we allow algorithmic cruelty and exploitative employment practices to flourish and an inspiring call to defend the dignity and value of human labor."
"Through vivid ethnographic accounts and empathetic analysis into the lives of workers in India and the United States, Mary Gray and Siddharth Suri give a human face to 'ghost work'—the invisible and often alienating piece work that makes today's digital economy run. Those people working today for Mechanical Turk and similar platforms are the canary in the coal mine, since the new economic and social configurations  have much to teach us about how more and more of us will be working in the years to come."

—Henry Jenkins, Provost's Professor of Communication, Journalism, Cinematic Art, and Education, University of Southern California

Ghost Work
2018-12-05T11:56:33-05:00

—Henry Jenkins, Provost's Professor of Communication, Journalism, Cinematic Art, and Education, University of Southern California

"Through vivid ethnographic accounts and empathetic analysis into the lives of workers in India and the United States, Mary Gray and Siddharth Suri give a human face to 'ghost work'—the invisible and often alienating piece work that makes today's digital economy run. Those people working today for Mechanical Turk and similar platforms are the canary in the coal mine, since the new economic and social configurations  have much to teach us about how more and more of us will be working in the years to come."
“In this important and original book, Gray and Suri give us a fascinating peek under the hood of the gig economy that is rigorous yet very readable.”

—Arun Sundararajan, professor of business, New York University, author of The Sharing Economy

Ghost Work
2019-02-09T09:12:57-05:00

—Arun Sundararajan, professor of business, New York University, author of The Sharing Economy

“In this important and original book, Gray and Suri give us a fascinating peek under the hood of the gig economy that is rigorous yet very readable.”
"An uncompromising, data-based, yet heartfelt exploration of how digital technologies have allowed corporations to write human beings even further out of the value equation, as well as how we can restore dignity and prosperity to the lives of the invisible workforce. The first step in building solidarity is simply knowing there are people out there."

—Douglas Rushkoff, author of Team Human and Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus

Ghost Work
2019-01-12T20:11:21-05:00

—Douglas Rushkoff, author of Team Human and Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus

"An uncompromising, data-based, yet heartfelt exploration of how digital technologies have allowed corporations to write human beings even further out of the value equation, as well as how we can restore dignity and prosperity to the lives of the invisible workforce. The first step in building solidarity is simply knowing there are people out there."
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