Thẻ: Labor – Lao động

The cost of human labor behind AI development

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Digital sweatshops of the Global South

So, where does this hidden labor take place? According to Casilli’s research, workers are in countries including Kenya, India, the Philippines, and Madagascar — regions with high levels of digital literacy, access to English- or French-speaking workers, and little in the way of labor protection or union representation. 

Do Better Team

Behind most of today’s AI models lies the labor of workers in the Global South, who are exposed to disturbing content and poor working conditions. This reality raises urgent questions about the transparency and ethics of AI development.

Picture working 10-hour days tagging distressing images to train an AI model — and getting paid not in money, but in a kilogram of sugar. This isn’t dystopian fiction, but reality for some of the workers behind today’s most advanced artificial intelligence. 

While the development of AI is undoubtedly enhancing the lives of many by streamlining processes and offering efficient solutions, it also raises a pressing question: What is the true cost of AI, and who is paying for it? 

Antonio Casilli, Professor of Sociology at Télécom Paris and Founder of DipLab, addressed this question during an Esade seminar on the promises and perils of the digitalization of work. The event was part of the kick-off for the DigitalWORK research project, which explores how digital technologies are transforming work and promoting fair, equitable and transparent labor conditions, with Anna Ginès i Fabrellas and Raquel Serrano Olivares (Universitat de Barcelona) as principal investigators. 

AI isn’t autonomous, it’s human-powered

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Ranked: Emerging Markets by FDI Confidence

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

 visualcapitalist.com June 30, 2025

This infographic ranks the top 25 emerging markets by their FDI confidence in 2025, based on a survey of global business leaders.

Key Takeaways

  • China, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia are the top three emerging markets by FDI confidence in 2025
  • Brazil overtook India to take the fourth spot, with both countries making the top five
  • Domestic economic performance and efficiency of legal and regulatory processes were the top two priorities for FDI investors

Emerging markets often attract foreign investors with prospects for higher economic growth and diversification.

Where are global business leaders placing their foreign direct investment (FDI) bets in 2025?

This chart highlights the top 25 emerging markets by FDI confidence score in 2025, based on a survey conducted by Kearney. The rankings are drawn from responses by 536 senior executives at global companies with annual revenues above $500 million.

China Leads in Foreign Investor Sentiment

China (including Hong Kong) remains the top emerging market for foreign investor confidence in 2025. However, FDI inflows have slowed in recent years, hitting multi-year lows in 2023.

Following China, the UAE and Saudi Arabia also retain their places as the second and third-most favored developing economies for FDI.

Here’s a look at the full list of top emerging markets for FDI confidence in 2025:Search:

RankCountryFDI Confidence Score
1China (including Hong Kong) 🇨🇳🇭🇰1.97
2United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪1.86
3Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦1.76
4Brazil 🇧🇷1.59
5India 🇮🇳1.53
6Mexico 🇲🇽1.51
7South Africa 🇿🇦1.48
8Poland 🇵🇱1.46
9Argentina 🇦🇷1.46
10Thailand 🇹🇭1.45

Brazil and India—two of the biggest emerging economies by GDP—round out the top five, with Brazil overtaking India in FDI confidence in the 2025 rankings.

These rankings align with investors’ FDI priorities from the same survey, where the efficiency of legal and regulatory processes and domestic economic performance top the list.

South Africa made the largest upward move in 2025, jumping from 11th to 7th in the rankings. It also recorded FDI inflows of around $661 million in Q1 2025, up 56% from the fourth quarter of 2024.

Overall, 11 of the top 25 emerging markets for FDI confidence are in Asia and the Middle East.

What’s Driving Investor Confidence?

The factors driving FDI confidence vary for each economy.

In China, tech innovation was the leading driver of investor confidence, while economic performance ranked highest for the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, the talent/skill of the labor pools in India and Mexico were the strongest factors attracting investors.

Despite reforms, mining for EV metals in Congo exacts steep cost on workers

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

washingtonpost.com
After revelations of child labor and treacherous conditions in many cobalt mines, automakers and mineral companies said they would adhere to international safety standards

The Shabara artisanal mine, where cobalt and copper are dug out by hand, near the Congolese boomtown of Kolwezi.

By Katharine Houreld and  Arlette Bashizi

Aug. 4 at 5:00 p.m.

Correspondent Katharine Houreld and photographer Arlette Bashizi traveled together across southeastern Congo, visiting industrial and artisanal mines in the country’s three largest cobalt mining towns. Houreld is The Washington Post’s East Africa bureau chief, based in Nairobi, with responsibilities stretching from the Horn of Africa to the continent’s southern tip. Bashizi is a Congolese photographer, based in Goma, focusing on issues related to health, environment and culture.

FUNGURUME, Democratic Republic of Congo — Alain Kasongo, burly and goateed, worked for four years driving the heavy trucks that hauled away tons of cobalt ore from a gaping hole at one of the biggest mines in Congo. The vibrations from the equipment and the jolts of driving over rough ground during his 12-hour shifts could be bone-rattling, he said. Finally, the pain in his spine grew so unbearable that he needed surgery.

His older brother, Patchou Kasongo Mutuka, worked the same job at the same mine. He suffered the same injury and required the same surgery — as did 13 other drivers of excavators and trucks at the mine who were interviewed. They lifted their shirts to reveal surgical scars and spread out carefully folded medical records confirming their accounts. They in turn named seven more colleagues who had suffered the same fate, all within a two-year period.

“It hurt so badly when I went home, I would lie awake at night,” said Alain Kasongo, 43, displaying bumps and ridges on his body from what he said were three operations.

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Risk, rewards and remittances in Vietnam’s Nghe An province

~ Trần Đình Hoành ~ Bình luận về bài viết này
Hoang Thi Ai holds up her phone showing a photo of her son Hoang Van Tiep, who she fears is one of the possible victims in the truck deaths in England, at her home in Dien Chau district, Nghe An province, Vietnam on Monday, Oct. 28, 2019. Families in central Vietnam continue to cling on hope for the fates of their loved ones, who might be among the dead in a truck in southern England. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh)
Hoang Thi Ai holds up her phone showing a photo of her son, Hoang Van Tiep, who she later discovered was among the 39 people who were found dead in a truck container in Essex, the UK, in 2019 [File: Hau Dinh/AP Photo]

By Sen Nguyen

Published On 20 Jul 202320 Jul 2023

In late October 2019, ambulance crews in the United Kingdom were called to a scene of horror.

On a quiet road in a nondescript industrial park in Essex, the bodies of 39 people were found when the heavy steel doors of a refrigerated truck trailer were opened.

The victims had suffocated. Death came slowly as oxygen levels inside the airtight container depleted for the 28 men, eight women and three children as their attempt to be smuggled into the UK ended tragically.

The youngest were two 15-year-olds. All were from Vietnam and the majority were from one province – Nghe An.

“I’m sorry Dad and Mum,” 26-year-old Pham Thi Tra My tapped out in a final text message she composed for her parents.

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