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AI and the Future of Work in the Global South: Job Apocalypse or Job Opportunity?

TechTalks

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When
Schedule
From 2:00 PM to 3:15 PM
Where
Online
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Artificial intelligence is reshaping labor markets around the world. While public debate largely focuses on advanced economies and the impact of automation on skilled jobs, a different reality is unfolding across the Global South.

Home to 80% of the world's workforce, developing countries face distinct structural challenges: young and rapidly growing populations alongside formal sectors that struggle to generate sufficient employment opportunities. The rise of AI in these economies raises a critical question: can it become a driver of economic development and quality job creation, or will it reproduce historical inequalities within global value chains?

This TechTalk will explore two complementary dynamics.

On the one hand, AI is creating new opportunities for labor markets across the Global South. The emergence of local start-ups and the development of applications tailored to local linguistic and contextual realities are generating unprecedented entrepreneurial and professional opportunities, particularly for young people. These transformations, however, also raise critical challenges related to skills development and the adaptation of education and training systems.

On the other hand, AI has given rise to new forms of digital gig work, including data labeling, model testing, and virtual assistance. This sector is absorbing a growing share of young workers in the Global South, often under precarious conditions. It also highlights the geographical distribution of the global AI value chain: the South provides labor and processes data, while the North concentrates the design, ownership, and deployment of AI systems.

How can economies in the Global South harness the opportunities offered by AI while ensuring the quality of the jobs created and avoiding a new form of technological dependency?

This roundtable will bring together practitioners from diverse backgrounds to explore these issues through three key dimensions:

  • Jobs, skills, and opportunities: How is AI transforming labor markets in the Global South, across both formal and informal sectors? What new occupations and opportunities are emerging? What investments in education and training are needed to enable young people not only to access these jobs, but also to participate actively in value creation across the global AI value chain?
  • Job quality in the AI economy: What are the actual working conditions in the AI economy, particularly for data labelers and platform workers? How can decent working conditions, labor protections, and job quality be ensured in these emerging sectors?
  • Towards inclusive AI: What measures are needed to ensure that AI contributes to the creation of decent jobs rather than the proliferation of precarious forms of work?

The session will be conducted in English, with simultaneous interpretation in French.

Moderator:

  • Moderated by Claire Zanuso, Head of the Emerging Tech Lab at AFD

Speakers: 

  • Patrick Feuerstein, Principal Investigator for Fairwork Germany, Research Fellow at the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB)
  • Mophat Okinyi, Founder & CEO of TCA (Techworker Community Africa), AI & Human Rights Advocate, former Content Moderator
  • Jacki O’Neill, Director of Microsoft Research Africa