FIR #508: Inside AI’s Human Raw Material Supply Chain

FIR #508: Inside AI’s Human Raw Material Supply Chain

From The FIR Podcast Network Everything Feed by The FIR Podcast Network Everything Feed

April 8, 2026 · 21 min · Episode 598

About this episode

The episode discusses the shift of gig workers towards creating content for AI training and the associated communication and ethical issues.

When workers lose their jobs, many turn to gig work to earn income while waiting for new opportunities. Increasingly, companies that hire gig workers are shifting from delivering food or sharing rides to creating content to train AI systems. This raises various communication and ethical issues. Neville and Shel explain what’s happening and discuss the implications in this short midweek episode. Links from this episode: The jobs AI can’t do – and the young adults doing them Thousands of people are selling their identities to train AI – but at what cost? The gig workers who are training humanoid robots at home Gig economy becomes new AI training ground The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, April 27. We host a Communicators Zoom Chat most Thursdays at 1 p.m. ET. To obtain the credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request them in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com. Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music. You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog . You can catch up with both co-hosts on Neville’s blog and Shel’s blog . Disclaimer…

People in this episode

Hosts: Shel Holtz, Neville Hobson

Topics covered

  • AI training
  • gig economy
  • ethical issues
  • communication
  • job market

Keywords

  • gig work
  • AI systems
  • content creation
  • ethical implications
  • job loss

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: AI, Facebook, FIR, Link Blog, Communicators Zoom Chat

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