Life With Machines explores the human side of the A.I. revolution – the good, the bad, and the weird – and asks, “How can these machines help us become more human?”
In this video podcast, host Baratunde Thurston helps us understand our rapidly emerging future, and encourages us to shape it and laugh at the absurdity. Baratunde demystifies A.I. and makes it personal with a wide range of guests: entrepreneurs, artists, policymakers, technologists, business leaders, creators, educators, and scientists. Maybe even an A.I. or two. Everyone should have a say in where technologies like A.I. take us, not just a handful of people in California who think nitro cold brew on tap should be a human right.
Join us in candid conversations and fun experiments, as we imagine and co-create our life, with machines.
Life with Machines is sponsored by Lenovo and produced in partnership with Rich Roll and Voicing Change Media.
All content for Life with Machines is the property of Baratunde Thurston and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Life With Machines explores the human side of the A.I. revolution – the good, the bad, and the weird – and asks, “How can these machines help us become more human?”
In this video podcast, host Baratunde Thurston helps us understand our rapidly emerging future, and encourages us to shape it and laugh at the absurdity. Baratunde demystifies A.I. and makes it personal with a wide range of guests: entrepreneurs, artists, policymakers, technologists, business leaders, creators, educators, and scientists. Maybe even an A.I. or two. Everyone should have a say in where technologies like A.I. take us, not just a handful of people in California who think nitro cold brew on tap should be a human right.
Join us in candid conversations and fun experiments, as we imagine and co-create our life, with machines.
Life with Machines is sponsored by Lenovo and produced in partnership with Rich Roll and Voicing Change Media.
The Shadow Workforce Powering AI | Advocate Milagros Miceli (Ep. 26)
Life with Machines
1 hour 23 minutes
4 months ago
The Shadow Workforce Powering AI | Advocate Milagros Miceli (Ep. 26)
AI may look like magic, but behind the scenes, it’s propped up by a vast human labor force. In this season finale of Life With Machines, Baratunde sits down with sociologist and computer scientist Milagros Miceli—aka Mila—who’s spent years documenting the hidden workforce behind AI systems. From Kenya to Bulgaria to Venezulea, millions of people are generating, labeling, and cleaning the data that keeps our so-called “autonomous” systems running. Some are even pretending to be the AI you think you’re talking to. In one of AI’s crueler twists, tech platforms are quietly paying refugees, gig workers, even journalists to train the very models threatening their livelihoods. And this labor force isn’t shrinking—it’s growing exponentially. Together, Mila and Baratunde unpack the scale of this invisible labor, its deeply human costs, and the possibilities for something better.
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Created and Executive Produced by: Elizabeth Stewart and Baratunde Thurston
Executive Producer and Showrunner: Alie Kilts
Senior Producer and Writer: Alex Stone
Associate Producer: Layne Deyling Cherland
Video Editor: Erik Shute
Videographer and Audio Engineer: Erik Shute
Theme Music: Andy Clausen
Special Envoy to the Machines: Peter Loforte
Life with Machines is a Multiverses Media production
Sponsored by Lenovo
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Life with Machines
Life With Machines explores the human side of the A.I. revolution – the good, the bad, and the weird – and asks, “How can these machines help us become more human?”
In this video podcast, host Baratunde Thurston helps us understand our rapidly emerging future, and encourages us to shape it and laugh at the absurdity. Baratunde demystifies A.I. and makes it personal with a wide range of guests: entrepreneurs, artists, policymakers, technologists, business leaders, creators, educators, and scientists. Maybe even an A.I. or two. Everyone should have a say in where technologies like A.I. take us, not just a handful of people in California who think nitro cold brew on tap should be a human right.
Join us in candid conversations and fun experiments, as we imagine and co-create our life, with machines.
Life with Machines is sponsored by Lenovo and produced in partnership with Rich Roll and Voicing Change Media.
