THE ALGORITHMIC ARTISAN AND THE DIGITAL SWEATSHOP: DATAFIED LABOR, POLICY DISCOURSE, AND CULTURAL PRODUCTION IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA

Abstract

The Western-centric case studies of the effects of artificial intelligence (AI) on creative labor often overlook the unique socio-economic conditions of the Global South where much of the digital work in the world is outsourced. This paper claims that the integration of AI in Asian creative industries has created a profound structural shift toward datafied labor, where creative output is increasingly treated as raw data for algorithmic training. Through a comparative analysis of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Philippines, three different models of digital labor are explored: the individual freelance economy, the shifting outsourcing hub, and the industrial-scale creative services sector. We analyze how AI is integrated into professional workflows, the implications for labor precarity, and how national policy discourses frame AI as an engine for economic modernization. Offering a de-centered narrative, the paper uncovers a novel digital division of labor manifesting as a human-material nexus characterized by the extraction of grey labor from the Global South to maintain Northern-centric AI systems. The paper concludes by suggesting a research agenda on labor rights and culturally responsive policy frameworks to ensure the transition to an AI-based economy does not further marginalize workers in the Global South.

Keywords: AI; Datafied Labor; Policy Discourse; Global South; Creative Industries; Grey Labor; Human-Material Nexus; Pakistan; Philippines; Bangladesh; Cultural Production; Digital Sweatshop.