The Ghost Workers in the Machine
Companies devalue them, and consumers rarely know they exist. But the apps and companies that millions of us depend on, like Uber and Amazon, couldn’t function without the invisible, low-wage labor of “ghost workers.”
According to a 2016 Pew Research Center report, 20 million US adults had earned some money in ghost work in the previous year. (Ivan Radic / Flickr)
Imagine a typical Uber ride. A driver logs into the app and waits for riders to appear in their queue. A nearby rider opens the app and sees the driver’s name and photo appear as the car approaches. Between driver and rider, however, another worker intervenes who remains invisible to both.
At random intervals, drivers are required to take a picture of themselves in the app so a facial recognition software can determine whether the image matches the one associated with their account. About once in every 100 pickups, a freshly shaved beard or new pair of sunglasses confounds the software. These pairs of selfies get routed to human workers, who have to determine that the two pictures are of the same person.
In a matter of seconds — no longer than it takes for a rider to find their driver and get in the car — the images are sent to the Indian tech hub of Bangalore, where a worker sitting at her kitchen table quickly evaluates them for a few cents in wages. When driver and rider meet, they have no idea that the ride was only allowed to go forward thanks to the real-time work of a third person across the world.
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.