Food delivery riders call on platforms to open up AI ‘black box’ they say has cut pay
TL;DR
Workers who blame algorithms for lowering their earnings are getting help from academics to find out how the system works Gig economy workers are urging delivery platforms to open up the “black box” of computer-driven algorithms that determine the jobs they are offered and how much they are paid, blaming increased use of AI for lowering wages. A group of food delivery riders in Edinburgh say their rates of pay have fallen and their working conditions have deteriorated at the same time as Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat, the three dominant gig economy platforms in the UK and Ireland, have increased their use of automation.
Nauti's Take
The push for algorithmic transparency opens a real opportunity to make automated pay logic auditable, and academic support finally brings data quality to the claim. The challenge is attribution, since falling earnings have several causes and the AI share stays an assertion without model access.
Platform operators should disclose early, since regulatory pressure in the EU and UK is clearly building.
Sources