On Wednesday, April 15th, 2026, the Young Initiative had the privilege of hosting the 2025 Young Initiative Fellow, Rachel Tan for a student-focused brown bag lunch discussion on "Life and Labor in the Making of Global AI." Tan, a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, shared insights from her ongoing dissertation research on the global political economy of algorithmic capitalism.
On Wednesday, April 15th, 2026, the Young Initiative had the privilege of hosting the 2025 Young Initiative Fellow, Rachel Tan for a student-focused brown bag lunch discussion on "Life and Labor in the Making of Global AI." Tan, a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, shared insights from her ongoing dissertation research on the global political economy of algorithmic capitalism.
Drawing on her multi-sited ethnography, Tan discussed the inherent challenges of conducting qualitative research on highly securitized tech corporations. She emphasized the critical need to unpack the "black box" of AI by tracking how these opaque systems actively shape the lives, labor, and environments that sustain them. Her research tracks three primary sites to understand the real-world impact of the continuous computing required for AI development.
First, Tan outlined the environmental toll of data center expansion in Quer茅taro, Mexico. She highlighted how the massive water and energy requirements for cooling cloud servers are exacerbating shortages in an already drought-prone region, noting that roughly 68% of the local groundwater is no longer usable. Despite backing from local governments, these data centers provide very few specialized jobs, creating tension with local communities and agricultural workers who rely on the depleted resources.
Second, she explored the grueling conditions of Venezuelan data annotators. Amidst severe economic crises, many highly educated refugees have turned to platform economies to clean and annotate the data that trains seemingly frictionless AI models like ChatGPT. Tan pointed out that this task-based work is globally distributed and highly isolated, severely limiting workers' capacity to organize or unionize.
Finally, Tan shared findings from the Tijuana-San Diego logistics corridor, focusing on cross-border commuters working 8- to 12-hour shifts at a 24/7 Amazon fulfillment center in Otay Mesa. She detailed how workers must adapt their physical mobility to meet relentless robotic quotas, often carrying remote devices that track their real-time efficiency. Despite the physical toll鈥攏ormalized by the presence of vending machines dispensing painkillers and bandages - many workers view the $20 to $25 hourly wage as a vital economic opportunity compared to local alternatives, which further complicates grassroots unionization efforts.
The informal discussion that followed allowed Occidental students and faculty to ask questions and explore these complex issues freely. Attendees raised points comparing the tech industry's practices to historical agricultural mechanization, as well as the strategic subversion of solidarity by tech corporations that offer lavish perks to top-tier developers while isolating lower-level workers.
When asked how individuals can combat these exploitative practices, Tan advised against top-down interventions from outsiders. Instead, she advocated for the active support of local unions and community organizing. She also urged attendees to consider their daily consumer choices and to actively cultivate cross-supply chain solidarity, emphasizing that education and community involvement are essential steps in shifting societal norms.