New article published in Platforms & Society : Understanding the “platform” keyword: An inquiry on the contested use of metaphors in platform studies, by Gianmarco Cristofari journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/29…

Uber paid Obama’s council of Econ Advisors chair 100k for an NBER study lauding the benefits of “flexible gig work” for drivers. It set the terms of debate for a decade, financing wasn’t disclosed, and the findings continue to be disproven. It’s Big Tobacco level corruption.

More than anything else I’ve written, this piece about the “compliance-ization” of Trust and Safety felt like news reporting. It describes major changes that are self-evident to many people inside platforms, and largely invisible to everyone else. lawfaremedia.org/article/the-ri…

New open access article with Devika Narayan! In this commentary, we advance a relational perspective on AI, work, and organizations by examining four relationships that can anchor analysis of emerging technologies. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00…

Uber’s food delivery division Uber Eats has rolled out a new scheme to FORCE independent contractors to work how, where and for the price they dictate. Drivers must accept offers paying below state minimum, unprofitable offers, in order to receive “higher paying orders.” 🧵/1

Excited to share our chapter on the 'Platform' metaphor (w/ Fernando van der Vlist | @fvandervlist.bsky.social) in this great Digital Media Metaphors book (ed. by @farkasjohan Marcus Maloney). It provides an intro to platform studies & concept of platformization. Available here: dx.doi.org/10.4324/978103… (or DM me!)

A new study estimates that equipment used to train and run generative AI models could produce up to 5 million tons of e-waste by 2030 — a relatively small but significant fraction of the global total. technologyreview.com/2024/10/28/110…

Just published at the wonderful (open access) journal First Monday, my long-in-progress article on a general theory of how innovation events train us to forget: "Innovation amnesia: Technology as a substitute for politics" firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/…

New paper out! Do digital platforms really change when workers are reclassified? In our new research published in Socio-Economic Review Pedro Mendonça (Pedro Mendonça) and I examine how #Glovo, #UberEats, and #JustEat responded during the first year of #LeyRider. (link at the bottom)

New article published in the Platforms & Society journal. The platformization of the follower factory: para-platforms, automation, and labor in the market for social media engagements, by Esther Weltevrede and Johan Lindquist Platforms & Society journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.11…

1/2🌍💻Are digital nomads the new "creative class" in cities marketplace? In my recent IJURR.org paper, I explore how cities compete to attract these hypermobile, tech workers, reshaping workspaces & deepening inequalities doi.org/10.1111/1468-2…

Dear computer vision researchers, students & practitioners📢 Remi Denton & I have written what I consider to be a comprehensive paper on the harms of computer vision systems reported to date & how people have proposed addressing them. PDF: cdn.sanity.io/files/wc2kmxvk…

New research reveals a worrying trend: AI's data practices risk concentrating power overwhelmingly in the hands of dominant technology companies. I spoke w/Shayne Longpre Sara Hooker Sarah Myers West Giada Pistilli about what this says about the state of AI technologyreview.com/2024/12/18/110…

Here is a great debate: Valeria Pulignano responds to the book review forum arguing how the state must address the uneven distribution of benefits created by unpaid labor with strong policies, based on the new book with Markieta Domecka Oxford Academic doi.org/10.1177/001979…

Very pleased to see our (w Andrew Copolov ) latest paper 'Parasitic platform urbanism in Dhaka and Melbourne' published in Human Geography journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/19… #platformeconomy #urbaninfrastructure #regulation #Uber #Pathao #DoorDash #HungryPanda #Australia #Bangladesh

What can India’s emerging gig worker unions teach us about labour organising & welfare in the digital age? Thrilled about this new open-access paper with അജു | Aju in @compchange Read: doi.org/10.1177/102452… It's packed with ideas. A thread of it's key interventions:

Very happy to see my invited article for Nature is out in the new issue. I wrote about computer vision, the AI surveillance industrial complex, and brilliant new research that shows how deeply embedded the computer vision field is in the surveillance pipeline.

📣🚨NEW: ☁️ Big Cloud—Google, Microsoft & Amazon—control two thirds of the cloud market. They’re getting rich off the AI gold rush. In work with Nathan Kim, we show how Big Cloud is expanding their empire by scrutinizing their *investments*… 🧵 📄PDF: dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5…

ALGORITHMIC WAGE DISCRIMINATION IS SPREADING! Wilneida & I found via an audit of 500 AI vendors, that healthcare, customer service, & logistics bosses are buying software that uses real time data to set wages. Report here -- equitablegrowth.org/how-artificial…