With an interest in the links between the immaterial and material sides of digital technologies, Antonio Casilli approaches the algorithmic culture by analyzing dialectical relations between machines and humans. Although machines are often designed to be tools for humans, machines can sometimes turn humans into tools of machines, making them perform tasks that are necessary for automated processes to work.
The conversations follow the main thesis of the book En attendant les robots [Waiting for Robots] that waiting for full automation is like waiting for Godot3 (Casilli, 2019; Casilli, 2021). Casilli elaborates on the concept of digital labor by examining three types of platform-related occupations (on-demand labor, micro-work, and socially networked labor). He reflects on the material conditions of digital labor, because automation will be a vain endeavor without the contribution of underpaid, micro-paid, or unpaid workers. Also, he evaluates bottom-up regulations as a possible way out and weighs in on the sociological implications of studying AI inspired by diverse fieldwork and methods.