Data Workers' Inquiry
Labor producing AIWorker powerparticipatory research initiativeactive
Data Workers' Inquiry: a global, radically participatory research initiative; community-based research project with a public repository of worker-made inquiries. Operator: Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR) and the Weizenbaum Institute, with TU Berlin; project lead Milagros Miceli. Its unit: an inquiry: research by one or more data workers in their own workplaces, with their colleagues, published in a format the workers chose (zine, documentary, comic, essay, podcast, animation, report); several inquiries are co-authored ('Behind the Face of AI' by Clara and B; a podcast by two anonymous content moderators; a podcast by Aaliyah, Omar and the Data Labelers Association). Whose labor: data labeling, content moderation, data annotation, chatbot impersonation and other data processing that enables AI systems, done by workers at outsourcing companies and platforms (Sama, Cloud Factory, Remotasks, Telus International, Scale AI, Amazon Mechanical Turk, TikTok and Apple's outsourced workforce among those named); invited pieces extend it to artists, translators, writers, nurses and internet users who produce data for AI without compensation.
is a global, radically participatory research initiative spanning nine countries across five continents. Here, data workers themselves become community researchers, identifying urgent issues, formulating their own questions, and choosing the formats that best tell their stories
In its own words: https://data-workers.org/, read 2026-10-29
Who supplies, who directs, who gains
Supplies the labordata workers, often in the Global Majority, precariously employed and politically dispersed, as the project states; in the inquiries, content moderators and annotators in Kenya, Syria, Lebanon, Venezuela, Brazil, Germany, France, Spain and the UK
Directs itoutsourcing companies and platforms, as the inquiries name them (Sama, Cloud Factory, Remotasks, Telus International, Scale AI, Amazon Mechanical Turk), working for client firms named in the inquiries (Meta, TikTok, Apple)
Receives the gains, bears the costsnot recorded as a quantity; the inquiries record the costs workers bear (psychological trauma, low pay, unpaid time, gift-card payment, account shutdowns, layoffs) and name the firms the work serves
Each as the resource itself records it. Where it records nothing, the census says so.
What it records
| Intersections | Labor producing AI: annotation, moderation, evaluation, maintenance, and creative or scholarly work entering training and retrieval; Worker power: bargaining, organizing, consent, refusal, contestation and enforceable protections; AI governing labor: hiring, surveillance, scheduling, quotas, evaluation and discipline |
| Kind of evidence | worker testimonyorganizing resource |
| Unit of record | an inquiry: research by one or more data workers in their own workplaces, with their colleagues, published in a format the workers chose (zine, documentary, comic, essay, podcast, animation, report); several inquiries are co-authored ('Behind the Face of AI' by Clara and B; a podcast by two anonymous content moderators; a podcast by Aaliyah, Omar and the Data Labelers Association) |
| Whose labor | data labeling, content moderation, data annotation, chatbot impersonation and other data processing that enables AI systems, done by workers at outsourcing companies and platforms (Sama, Cloud Factory, Remotasks, Telus International, Scale AI, Amazon Mechanical Turk, TikTok and Apple's outsourced workforce among those named); invited pieces extend it to artists, translators, writers, nurses and internet users who produce data for AI without compensation op |
| Method | worker-written inquiry: participatory action research in which data workers act as community researchers, set their own questions, design and conduct the inquiry (interviews with colleagues among them) and choose the presentation format; the organizing team trains them in data collection and analysis and monitors legal and ethical boundaries; the inquirers are paid (SUPERRR Lab, a third party, states the initiative provides them with fair wages, a methodology and a platform) |
| Coverage | geography: nine countries across five continents (the home page); Kenya, Venezuela, Syria, Lebanon and Germany at launch; period: project phase at the Weizenbaum Institute August 2023 to November 2024; the repository continues on data-workers.org (copyright 2026) |
| What it finds | the repository presents data workers' realities ranging from psychological, physical and sexual abuse to resistance strategies and efforts to unionize; outsourcing companies prey on vulnerable populations, such as refugees, offering them work with little compensation (the Weizenbaum project page); named inquiries document Remotasks shutting down thousands of accounts of African data workers in March 2024, and Amazon Mechanical Turk paying data workers with gift cards |
| Its stated limits | the project's researcher Laurenz Sachenbacher, one of the core researchers who accompanied every inquiry, writes (Bot Populi, 29 April 2025) that the efforts the project accompanied, such as workers' councils, advocacy groups and peer-to-peer mental health support, were largely forced to remain on a localized level; the project states that epistemic authority remains with the workers, so each inquiry speaks for its authors and the colleagues they consulted |
op the resource's own statement · 3p a third-party account · obs our observation · rd our reading. Hover a tag for its quote; each opens below with its source.
What this evidence can settle
Can answer
- what data workers themselves identify as the urgent issues in their workplaces
- how named outsourcers and platforms manage, pay and discipline data workers, in the workers' own accounts
- how data workers organize (the African Content Moderators Union, the Data Labelers Association)
Cannot answer
- how prevalent any reported condition is across the data-work industry
- wage or employment figures at scale
- how much of a given AI system's training data any reported work produced
In the worked questions
Where it meets Labor Vector
rd The inquiries record labor producing AI from the worker's side, including work in which a person performs as the machine ('human chatbots' at Scale AI; 'When users think they are talking to a machine, human emotion becomes data'); the archive reads this as bearing on task-origin, where the attribution of a composition to the system conceals the human labor that produced it.
Entity
| Canonical name | Data Workers' Inquiry |
| Also known as | DWI, Workers' Inquiry as a Research Methodology (WIRM) |
| Address | https://data-workers.org/ |
| Operator | Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR) and the Weizenbaum Institute, with TU Berlin; project lead Milagros Miceli op |
| Founded | August 2023 (the Weizenbaum project's stated duration) |
| Kind | global, radically participatory research initiative; community-based research project with a public repository of worker-made inquiries |
| Lifecycle | active — Weizenbaum project phase August 2023 to November 2024; the repository launched with a virtual event on Monday 8 July 2024 (the press release gives Monday, July 8th; Tech Policy Press, a third party, dates its report on the launch 28 July 2024 and places the event earlier that month; DAIR's project page places the launch event series in 2024); the home page lists 19 inquirers and invited pieces, copyright 2026 |
| Count | four counts in the sources: 19 data workers conducting inquiries in six countries (the home page, which also says nine countries across five continents); 15 data workers from five countries at the launch of the repository (the press release); 15 co-researchers from four countries (the Weizenbaum project page); 13 projects in the first phase (Laurenz Sachenbacher, Bot Populi) (as of 2026-10-29 (home page read); the press release dates from the July 2024 launch; the Bot Populi article 29 April 2025) op |
| Data access | inquiries downloadable from the project repository on data-workers.org op |
| Licence | not stated in the saved sources (site footer: © 2026 DAIR Institute. All Rights Reserved.) op |
| Versions and dates | project duration: August 2023 - November 2024; repository launch: 2024-07-08; site copyright: 2026; read: 2026-10-29 |
| Observation | 2026-10-29: read |
Relations
Neighbours
Captures: the composition layer's account
The /non row
Evidenceevery field's quote, its source and the hash of the saved copy39
- self description op
is a global, radically participatory research initiative spanning nine countries across five continents. Here, data workers themselves become community researchers, identifying urgent issues, formulating their own questions, and choosing the formats that best tell their stories
- methodology op
we created and developed Workers’ Inquiry as a Research Methodology or WIRM , a framework designed to turn hidden and precarious labor into a shared, politicized site for knowledge-making, public engagement, and tangible change.
- count op
19 data workers in Venezuela, Kenya, Syria, Brazil, France and Germany conducting research with their colleagues in their respective workplaces and reporting on labor conditions and widespread practices in the AI industry.
- count launch op
This community-based research project has brought together 15 data workers from Kenya, Venezuela, Syria, Lebanon, and Germany, and diverse employment contexts, including various outsourcing companies and platforms.
- operator op
The Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR) and Weizenbaum Institute launch the Data Worker’s Inquiry repository and talk series.
- partners op
Partners : Weizenbaum-Institut, TU Berlin, DAIR Institut
- duration op
Duration : August 2023 - November 2024
- labor object op
The data workers who are tasked with the labor-intensive and emotionally taxing work of data labeling, content moderation, and other forms of data processing that enable AI systems to function, are often located in the Global Majority, precariously employed, and politically dispersed.
- invited pieces op
Artists, translators, writers, nurses, and internet users produce data for AI without compensation.
- method par op
the Data Workers Inquiry employs a participatory action research (PAR) methodology
- method team op
We provide guidance and training in specific data collection and analysis methods, and constantly monitor the legal and ethical boundaries of the inquiries.
- method steps op
The data workers develop unique research questions, design and conduct their inquiries, and prepare a presentation format for their findings.
- epistemic authority op
We are proactive supporters, but the epistemic authority remains with the workers.
- finding range op
ranging from psychological, physical, and sexual abuse, to resistance strategies and efforts to unionize
- finding refugees op
These accounts show how outsourcing companies prey on vulnerable populations, such as refugees, offering them work with little compensation.
- finding remotasks op
In March 2024, Remotasks shut down thousands of accounts of data workers in African countries.
- finding giftcards op
Amazon Mechanical Turk pays data workers with gift cards instead of money.
- finding meta op
Exploited by subcontractors like Sama, Meta content moderators in Nairobi face psychological trauma and silencing.
- human chatbots op
This short comic details the experiences of data workers in France working for Scale AI as human chatbots.
- intimacy op
When users think they are talking to a machine, human emotion becomes data.
- tiktok op
They face systematic outsourcing, replacement by inadequate automated systems, and layoffs without accountability.
- organizing op
This documentary explores the issues faced by data workers at Sama in Nairobi, Kenya, that led to the union’s creation.
- launch op
The launch event will take place online on Monday, July 8th, 8:00 AM PT / 11:00 AM EST / 5 PM CET.
- launch tpp 3p
Rebecca Rand, Justin Hendrix / Jul 28, 2024
- launch tpp event 3p
For this episode, journalist and audio producer Rebecca Rand parsed some of the ideas and experiences discussed at a virtual launch event for the inquiry that took place earlier this month.
- launch dair op
In 2024, we had an online event series featuring the community researchers and their work in seven thematic panels. Check out more info on the events series, the recordings, and the DWI launch event recording.
- limit localized 3p
However, all the solution approaches we accompanied and enthusiastically applaud, such as efforts to build workers’ councils, advocacy groups, or non-institutionalized solidarity structures in the form of peer-to-peer mental health support, were largely forced to remain on a localized level.
- limit author 3p
As one of the core researchers who accompanied every inquiry, I think there are two crucial questions to address:
- limit author name 3p
Laurenz Sachenbacher reflects on the conjunction that motivated this undertaking, and the critical insights that have emerged from its first phase.
- limit date 3p
29 April 2025 | 7 min read
- count projects 3p
Assisted by a core team of trained qualitative researchers, each of the 13 projects was tailored to the specificities of their respective national context
- count weizenbaum op
has brought together 15 co-researchers from Venezuela, Kenya, Syria, and Germany and employment contexts, including content moderators and data annotators working for various outsourcing companies and platforms.
- paid 3p
the initiative doesn’t reduce data workers to research subjects but empowers them to be community researchers by providing them with fair wages, a methodology, and a platform to conduct their own individual inquiries.
- coauthored op
Behind the Face of AI by Clara and B
- coauthored op
This podcast was developed and recorded by two anonymous data workers, currently employed as Content Moderators at an outsourcing company in Berlin, Germany.
- coauthored op
By Aaliyah, Omar & DLA
- data access op
zines, documentaries, comics, essays, podcasts, and animations can be downloaded from the project repository
- license op
© 2026 DAIR Institute. All Rights Reserved.
- turkopticon piece op
What I Have Learned from International Turkers by Krystal Kauffman Turkopticon, DAIR
Negative tagswhat it is not3
- NOT a representative survey of data workers: each inquiry is the research of its worker authors with their colleagues
- NOT research about data workers by outside researchers: the workers set the questions
- NOT a union, though inquiries document union organizing
Sourcesevery source read, with its date and hash7
Not yet checkedwhat remains to read3
- the inquiries themselves (zines, documentaries, reports) in the repository
- the Our Methodology page (WIRM)
- the Papers and Reports page
Cite this record
Lee Sharks, ed. "Data Workers' Inquiry." Labor Vector meta-aggregator, laborvector.org, compiled 2026-10-29. https://www.laborvector.org/aggregators/data-workers-inquiry
Record https://www.laborvector.org/aggregators/data-workers-inquiry · entity https://www.laborvector.org/aggregators/data-workers-inquiry#entity · the census as data
@misc{lv-dataworkersinquiry2026,
editor = {Sharks, Lee},
title = {Data Workers' Inquiry},
howpublished = {Labor Vector meta-aggregator, laborvector.org},
year = {2026},
note = {Compiled 2026-10-29; every field sourced and dated},
url = {https://www.laborvector.org/aggregators/data-workers-inquiry}
}