You Talked to Workers for This Labor Research... Right? (with Sophie Song), 2025.11.17

Last month, Senate Democrats warned that "Automation Could Destroy Nearly 100 Million U.S Jobs in a Decade." Ironically, they used ChatGPT to come to that conclusion. DAIR Research Associate Sophie Song joins us to unpack the issues when self-professed worker advocates use chatbots for "research."
Sophie Song (dair-institute.org/team/sophie-song) is a researcher, organizer, and advocate working at the intersection of tech and social justice. They’re a research associate at DAIR, where they're working with Alex on building the Luddite Lab Resource Hub.
References:
• Senate report: AI and Automation Could Destroy Nearly 100 Million U.S Jobs in a Decade (sanders.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/10.6.202…)
• Senator Sanders' AI Report Ignores the Data on AI and Inequality (aei.org/technology-and-innovation/senator-sand…)
Also referenced:
• MAIHT3k Episode 25: An LLM Says LLMs Can Do Your Job (buzzsprout.com/2126417/episodes/14416779-episo…)
• Humlum paper: Large Language Models, Small Labor Market Effects (static1.squarespace.com/static/5d35e72fcff15f0…)
• Emily's blog post: Scholarship should be open, inclusive and slow (medium.com/@emilymenonbender/scholarship-shoul…)
Fresh AI Hell:
• Tech companies compelling vibe coding (bsky.app/profile/alexhanna.bsky.social/post/3m…)
• arXiv is overwhelmed by LLM slop (bsky.app/profile/carnage4life.bsky.social/post…)
• 'Godfather of AI' says tech giants can't profit from their astronomical investments unless human labor is replaced (archive.is/EGBmB)
• If you want to satiate AI’s hunger for power, Google suggests going to space (arstechnica.com/space/2025/11/if-you-want-to-s…?)
• AI pioneers claim human-level general intelligence is already here (archive.is/p7z2z)
• Gen AI campaign against ranked choice voting (bsky.app/profile/edkohler.bsky.social/post/3m5…)
• Chaser: Workplace AI Implementation Bingo (workersdecide.tech/resources/2025-09-18-bingo)
Check out future streams on Twitch (twitch.tv/dair_institute). Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see (thecon.ai/submit-fresh-ai-hell).
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Music by Toby Menon.
Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park (naomipleasurepark.com).
Production by Ozzy Llinas Goodman.