Julián Posada
@posada.website
💼 Assistant Professor @Yale.edu
📖 Author of “Platform Extractivism” (UC Press, 2026)
🎓 Research on #AI + #Data + #Work + #Platforms
🌐 https://posada.website/
📖 Author of “Platform Extractivism” (UC Press, 2026)
🎓 Research on #AI + #Data + #Work + #Platforms
🌐 https://posada.website/
Reposted by Julián Posada
Viewing @ghostdoc2026.bsky.social with students to learn about eugenics, the ideology and political economy of AI, and how we exert our agency to shape the future > More AI literacy that socializes students into GenAI customers.
The documentary is now available to watch - and teach! - in full:
The documentary is now available to watch - and teach! - in full:
Ghost in the Machine | What is Artificial Intelligence? | Full Documentary
YouTube video by PBS Documentaries
youtu.be
September 14, 2026 at 7:18 PM
Viewing @ghostdoc2026.bsky.social with students to learn about eugenics, the ideology and political economy of AI, and how we exert our agency to shape the future > More AI literacy that socializes students into GenAI customers.
The documentary is now available to watch - and teach! - in full:
The documentary is now available to watch - and teach! - in full:
Reposted by Julián Posada
EXCLUSIVE: Humans are reading ChatGPT users’ prompts to improve OpenAI’s models, and those chats can include sensitive, personal information, according to leaked internal documents and real prompts seen by 404 Media.
Inside ‘Project Lily’: The Humans Reading Your ChatGPT Chats
Humans are reading ChatGPT users’ prompts to improve OpenAI’s models, and those chats can include sensitive, personal information, according to leaked internal documents and real prompts seen by 404 M...
www.404media.co
September 14, 2026 at 2:26 PM
EXCLUSIVE: Humans are reading ChatGPT users’ prompts to improve OpenAI’s models, and those chats can include sensitive, personal information, according to leaked internal documents and real prompts seen by 404 Media.
Today, I will be delivering the first keynote at the 9th Conference of the International Network on Digital Labor, hosted at the International Labour Organization.
The talk will be broadcast live on the United Nations Web TV channel at 14:30 CEST (8:30 AM EDT):
webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1a...
The talk will be broadcast live on the United Nations Web TV channel at 14:30 CEST (8:30 AM EDT):
webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1a...
Data work and territory: The Latin American experience
Behind today's artificial intelligence systems lies a vast and often invisible workforce responsible for generating, annotating and curating the data on which these systems depend. In this keynote, Ju...
webtv.un.org
September 9, 2026 at 5:58 AM
Today, I will be delivering the first keynote at the 9th Conference of the International Network on Digital Labor, hosted at the International Labour Organization.
The talk will be broadcast live on the United Nations Web TV channel at 14:30 CEST (8:30 AM EDT):
webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1a...
The talk will be broadcast live on the United Nations Web TV channel at 14:30 CEST (8:30 AM EDT):
webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1a...
Reposted by Julián Posada
AI companies are paying highly educated workers to teach machines the judgment they spent years developing — even when those systems could eventually replace them https://restofworld.org/2026/ai-training-jobs-expert-replacement/?utm_campaign=row-social
I refused to train the AI that could replace me
AI companies are paying highly educated workers to teach machines the judgment they spent years developing — even when those systems could eventually replace them.
restofworld.org
September 3, 2026 at 3:25 PM
AI companies are paying highly educated workers to teach machines the judgment they spent years developing — even when those systems could eventually replace them https://restofworld.org/2026/ai-training-jobs-expert-replacement/?utm_campaign=row-social
Reposted by Julián Posada
Yes we all think this is stupid but we, the ppl brushing our teeth, are not the customers
The customers are the investors who in ~1yr will be enticed to fund Dyson's smart dental AI spinoff, featuring models trained on "the world's largest real time floss dataset"
gizmodo.com/dysons-smart...
The customers are the investors who in ~1yr will be enticed to fund Dyson's smart dental AI spinoff, featuring models trained on "the world's largest real time floss dataset"
gizmodo.com/dysons-smart...
Dyson’s Smart Toothbrush Uses a Camera to Floss Your Teeth
Yes, you can watch the camera feed from an app.
gizmodo.com
September 2, 2026 at 8:43 AM
Yes we all think this is stupid but we, the ppl brushing our teeth, are not the customers
The customers are the investors who in ~1yr will be enticed to fund Dyson's smart dental AI spinoff, featuring models trained on "the world's largest real time floss dataset"
gizmodo.com/dysons-smart...
The customers are the investors who in ~1yr will be enticed to fund Dyson's smart dental AI spinoff, featuring models trained on "the world's largest real time floss dataset"
gizmodo.com/dysons-smart...
Reposted by Julián Posada
Canada hires away nearly 50 US scholars
File under: brain drain; academic freedom www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/w...
File under: brain drain; academic freedom www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/w...
Canada Hires U.S. Scholars From Harvard and Other Top Universities (Gift Article)
A crackdown on American academia by the Trump administration has handed Canadian universities a rare opportunity to lure some top researchers north.
www.nytimes.com
August 27, 2026 at 8:53 PM
Canada hires away nearly 50 US scholars
File under: brain drain; academic freedom www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/w...
File under: brain drain; academic freedom www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/w...
Reposted by Julián Posada
Julián Posada, a professor at Yale University, speaks about AI data work that is outsourced to Venezuela. The workers, some of whom are paid as little as 50 cents per hour, “would not know who the employers were or what even the AI they were helping develop is.”
August 27, 2026 at 1:19 PM
Julián Posada, a professor at Yale University, speaks about AI data work that is outsourced to Venezuela. The workers, some of whom are paid as little as 50 cents per hour, “would not know who the employers were or what even the AI they were helping develop is.”
I talked with Nermeen Shaikh on Democracy Now! about data work in Venezuela and the experiences of workers and their families. Some of the findings in #PlatformExtractivism, out Oct 20 with @ucpress.bsky.social.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zlb...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zlb...
"Platform Extractivism": Inside Venezuela's Hidden Workforce Training AI Algorithms for Pennies
YouTube video by Democracy Now!
www.youtube.com
August 27, 2026 at 3:57 PM
I talked with Nermeen Shaikh on Democracy Now! about data work in Venezuela and the experiences of workers and their families. Some of the findings in #PlatformExtractivism, out Oct 20 with @ucpress.bsky.social.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zlb...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zlb...
Reposted by Julián Posada
Mechanical Turk may be shutting down, but AI will always depend on data workers whose knowledge trains and tunes models.
AI runs on extracted cultural skills and knowledge, and culture is always changing.
Less the end of an era, but the end of an early prototype.
AI runs on extracted cultural skills and knowledge, and culture is always changing.
Less the end of an era, but the end of an early prototype.
Amazon is officially shutting down Mechanical Turk next month. It feels like the end of an era.
I've written about the platform on and off for close to a decade. We wouldn't have the AI tools we do now if it weren't for the low-paid, largely invisible labor of MTurkers
I've written about the platform on and off for close to a decade. We wouldn't have the AI tools we do now if it weren't for the low-paid, largely invisible labor of MTurkers
August 26, 2026 at 1:24 AM
Mechanical Turk may be shutting down, but AI will always depend on data workers whose knowledge trains and tunes models.
AI runs on extracted cultural skills and knowledge, and culture is always changing.
Less the end of an era, but the end of an early prototype.
AI runs on extracted cultural skills and knowledge, and culture is always changing.
Less the end of an era, but the end of an early prototype.
Reposted by Julián Posada
I focus quite a bit on MTurk in the book I'm writing about ImageNet. Modern "AI" wouldn't exist if it weren't for MTurk, and, moreover, the blueprint ImageNet created for data labor.
Amazon is officially shutting down Mechanical Turk next month. It feels like the end of an era.
I've written about the platform on and off for close to a decade. We wouldn't have the AI tools we do now if it weren't for the low-paid, largely invisible labor of MTurkers
I've written about the platform on and off for close to a decade. We wouldn't have the AI tools we do now if it weren't for the low-paid, largely invisible labor of MTurkers
August 26, 2026 at 1:13 AM
I focus quite a bit on MTurk in the book I'm writing about ImageNet. Modern "AI" wouldn't exist if it weren't for MTurk, and, moreover, the blueprint ImageNet created for data labor.
Reposted by Julián Posada
AI isn’t just code. There are people behind it.
Dr. Julian Posada @posada.website explores the social side of AI and the people behind the systems.
Our full conversation examines the often unseen workers helping build today’s AI.
🎧 youtu.be/QQsm0T4HLvI
#AI #AIWorkers
Dr. Julian Posada @posada.website explores the social side of AI and the people behind the systems.
Our full conversation examines the often unseen workers helping build today’s AI.
🎧 youtu.be/QQsm0T4HLvI
#AI #AIWorkers
August 24, 2026 at 9:19 PM
AI isn’t just code. There are people behind it.
Dr. Julian Posada @posada.website explores the social side of AI and the people behind the systems.
Our full conversation examines the often unseen workers helping build today’s AI.
🎧 youtu.be/QQsm0T4HLvI
#AI #AIWorkers
Dr. Julian Posada @posada.website explores the social side of AI and the people behind the systems.
Our full conversation examines the often unseen workers helping build today’s AI.
🎧 youtu.be/QQsm0T4HLvI
#AI #AIWorkers
Reposted by Julián Posada
I think a lot of people don’t understand that the academic freedom that we have — which we have fought for — is not the freedom to say every asinine racist & sexist thing that you think.
August 22, 2026 at 8:35 PM
I think a lot of people don’t understand that the academic freedom that we have — which we have fought for — is not the freedom to say every asinine racist & sexist thing that you think.
Reposted by Julián Posada
excited to see my article on "talking lures" in mental healthcare AI officially out in print in this issue!
The newest issue of "Current Anthropology" is available now! www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/ca/current
August 13, 2026 at 3:48 PM
excited to see my article on "talking lures" in mental healthcare AI officially out in print in this issue!
Reposted by Julián Posada
If it looks like an Amazon delivery and drives like an Amazon delivery, then it's an Amazon delivery, right? Not according to Amazon.
Big companies like Amazon have built a vast network of subcontractors who deliver their packages while shielding them from accountability.
Big companies like Amazon have built a vast network of subcontractors who deliver their packages while shielding them from accountability.
August 10, 2026 at 6:34 PM
If it looks like an Amazon delivery and drives like an Amazon delivery, then it's an Amazon delivery, right? Not according to Amazon.
Big companies like Amazon have built a vast network of subcontractors who deliver their packages while shielding them from accountability.
Big companies like Amazon have built a vast network of subcontractors who deliver their packages while shielding them from accountability.
Reposted by Julián Posada
Got a new google scholar notification, so I go check and find this very cool poem by Wang Jibing 王计兵, the recent Lu Xun prize winner, prefacing a PhD thesis on women migrant workers and the gig economy
PhD students in all disciplines: more poems in theses please, we love to see them! ✨💫
PhD students in all disciplines: more poems in theses please, we love to see them! ✨💫
August 9, 2026 at 3:24 PM
Got a new google scholar notification, so I go check and find this very cool poem by Wang Jibing 王计兵, the recent Lu Xun prize winner, prefacing a PhD thesis on women migrant workers and the gig economy
PhD students in all disciplines: more poems in theses please, we love to see them! ✨💫
PhD students in all disciplines: more poems in theses please, we love to see them! ✨💫
We’re hiring at @yale.edu! The American Studies Program seeks an open-rank faculty member in U.S. Cultural History and Cultural Studies, starting July 1, 2027.
Apply by Oct. 15, 2026 for full consideration:
apply.interfolio.com/188467
Apply by Oct. 15, 2026 for full consideration:
apply.interfolio.com/188467
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
July 31, 2026 at 6:24 PM
We’re hiring at @yale.edu! The American Studies Program seeks an open-rank faculty member in U.S. Cultural History and Cultural Studies, starting July 1, 2027.
Apply by Oct. 15, 2026 for full consideration:
apply.interfolio.com/188467
Apply by Oct. 15, 2026 for full consideration:
apply.interfolio.com/188467
Reposted by Julián Posada
UT President interfering with faculty tenure. Just the latest egregious example of administrator overreach and political capitulation. Non-paywall follows.
UT border surveillance scholar was a shoo-in for tenure. UT denied him.
American Studies scholar Iván Chaar López fears UT’s unexplained tenure denial violated his academic freedom amid scrutiny of controversial fields.
www.statesman.com
July 20, 2026 at 6:28 PM
UT President interfering with faculty tenure. Just the latest egregious example of administrator overreach and political capitulation. Non-paywall follows.
Reposted by Julián Posada
“Duguid was inundated with messages from people sharing their anger about automated AI-driven recruitment processes that they believe screen out older candidates. Following their advice, Duguid’s “newly botoxed CV” no longer displays her age”
www.ft.com/content/b4bc...
www.ft.com/content/b4bc...
Ageism: the silent but deadly threat to your retirement
For Gen X, financial planning needs to involve career planning
www.ft.com
July 21, 2026 at 3:04 PM
“Duguid was inundated with messages from people sharing their anger about automated AI-driven recruitment processes that they believe screen out older candidates. Following their advice, Duguid’s “newly botoxed CV” no longer displays her age”
www.ft.com/content/b4bc...
www.ft.com/content/b4bc...
Reposted by Julián Posada
Pleased to support Mayor Mamdani's PIT Crew initiative. Done right, digital government saves people time and money. Done wrong, it can be costly, useless, or discriminatory. How a city interacts with its people shouldn't be outsourced. It should be local and accountable. www.nyc.gov/mayors-offic...
Mayor Mamdani Launches "Public Interest Technology (PIT) Crew" to Rapidly Build Digital Solutions to Public Problems
www.nyc.gov
July 13, 2026 at 9:39 PM
Pleased to support Mayor Mamdani's PIT Crew initiative. Done right, digital government saves people time and money. Done wrong, it can be costly, useless, or discriminatory. How a city interacts with its people shouldn't be outsourced. It should be local and accountable. www.nyc.gov/mayors-offic...
Reposted by Julián Posada
It's not OK to wear smart glasses around other people. It's not cool. It's creepy, disrespectful. It pollutes the public sphere with the oppression of surveillance. It puts the onus on non-Glassholes; that's not asking for consent.
www.vogue.com/article/do-s...
www.vogue.com/article/do-s...
Do Smart Glasses Have a Surveillance Problem?
Big Tech is investing in fashion’s cultural legitimacy to make AI smart glasses socially acceptable, but consumers view them as synonymous with surveillance. Is removing the camera the key to adoption...
www.vogue.com
July 10, 2026 at 8:37 AM
It's not OK to wear smart glasses around other people. It's not cool. It's creepy, disrespectful. It pollutes the public sphere with the oppression of surveillance. It puts the onus on non-Glassholes; that's not asking for consent.
www.vogue.com/article/do-s...
www.vogue.com/article/do-s...
Reposted by Julián Posada
Great paper by a 🌟 group ( @posada.website) that shows the "annotation pipeline as a site of epistemic contestation" & how 'ground truth' is "a sociotechnical artifact manufactured through a sequence of deliberate & often invisible choices," including labor conditions
dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...
dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...
June 29, 2026 at 3:58 PM
Great paper by a 🌟 group ( @posada.website) that shows the "annotation pipeline as a site of epistemic contestation" & how 'ground truth' is "a sociotechnical artifact manufactured through a sequence of deliberate & often invisible choices," including labor conditions
dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...
dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...
“Broken Bones, Lawsuits, and NDAs: Inside the Worker Safety Concerns at Stargate Data Center” via Time Magazine
time.com/article/2026...
time.com/article/2026...
Broken Bones, Lawsuits, and NDAs: Inside the Worker Safety Concerns at Stargate Data Center
A TIME investigation—drawing on government reports, court documents, 911 calls, and worker interviews—uncovers safety concerns at the flagship site of the $500 billion AI infrastructure project.
time.com
June 28, 2026 at 3:29 PM
“Broken Bones, Lawsuits, and NDAs: Inside the Worker Safety Concerns at Stargate Data Center” via Time Magazine
time.com/article/2026...
time.com/article/2026...
Reposted by Julián Posada
How to Help Venezuela After the Earthquakes
How to Help Venezuela After the Earthquakes
With the news that two massive earthquakes struck Venezuela on Wednesday, we decided to feature a video by contributor Carlos Egaña on how you can support from the United States.
thelatinonewsletter.org
June 25, 2026 at 10:06 PM
How to Help Venezuela After the Earthquakes
Reposted by Julián Posada
Local UNICEF teams are on the ground working to deliver urgent, lifesaving support to children and families after powerful, back-to-back earthquakes hit northern #Venezuela on Wednesday. Here's what you need to know, including how to help:
Venezuela Earthquakes: Children Need Help Now
UNICEF is providing emergency support for children and families affected by a pair of deadly earthquakes in northern Venezuela.
www.unicefusa.org
June 25, 2026 at 1:44 PM
Local UNICEF teams are on the ground working to deliver urgent, lifesaving support to children and families after powerful, back-to-back earthquakes hit northern #Venezuela on Wednesday. Here's what you need to know, including how to help:
From @ucpress.bsky.social: Increase in Scams Targeting Authors. I received many of these emails already. Don't fall for it!
www.ucpress.edu/blog-posts/i...
www.ucpress.edu/blog-posts/i...
Increase in Scams Targeting Authors
With the rise of AI-powered scams, we've witnessed a surge of scammers specifically targeting book authors. Here's what you need to be on the lookout for as an author.
www.ucpress.edu
June 18, 2026 at 12:23 AM
From @ucpress.bsky.social: Increase in Scams Targeting Authors. I received many of these emails already. Don't fall for it!
www.ucpress.edu/blog-posts/i...
www.ucpress.edu/blog-posts/i...