A Brown University student has built a public interactive map showing connections between companies that use artificial intelligence and people doing the human work needed to train it.
Senior Cunyan Ma's project links 13 data-labeling companies, 141 corporate customers and sites in 31 countries, according to Brown's Oct. 26 announcement. Data labeling can mean identifying objects in images, transcribing speech or evaluating chatbot responses.
The free online map draws on existing databases, Ma's collection of delivery-center locations and reporting about data work. A company's delivery-center location is a stand-in for where workers may be based, rather than a complete census of workers.
Ma developed the project with Brown's Center for Technological Responsibility, Reimagination and Redesign. Computer-science professor Suresh Venkatasubramanian advises the work.
Ma said one purpose is public education about the labor behind automated services. She describes the map as illustrative rather than comprehensive.
Ma hopes to expand the project to other parts of technology production, including semiconductor work.