Artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven technologies are transforming work—often in ways that often leave low-wage, frontline workers behind. For example, in home health care, governments and employers use work-tracking systems to surveil nearly three million precarious care workers and ten million vulnerable care recipients. However, unions and other worker advocates can use data-driven tools to provide voice and visibility to the geographically dispersed and often overlooked workforce—if the tools consider the privacy of sensitive data and the burdens workers face in navigating new technologies.
In this talk, I will be presenting my research that examines the impacts of and reimagines the opportunities for AI and data-driven technology that build worker power while mitigating technological harms. I describe my community-engaged research with worker advocacy organizations in New York State where I: (1) critically analyze how technology discounts care work contributions and enables additional invisible work, (2) collaboratively design futures towards collective action that help workers aggregate evidence of violations and build solidarity, and (3) develop systems that address concerns around privacy, workload, and accountability. Then, I discuss how this research extends to my future work into participatory AI systems, care-aware AI design, and worker organizing in the age of AI.
Joy Ming has over a decade of experience in academia and industry working with community partners on socially impactful technology across multiple geographies (e.g., South/Southeast Asia, Sub Saharan Africa) and domains (e.g., disability justice, global health, civic engagement) as an NSF Graduate Fellow, software engineer at Google, and Fulbright researcher. She has made contributions to discourse in human-computer interaction, information and communication technologies for development, science and technology studies, and labor relations. Additionally, she creates real-world, community impact through technological artifacts, public writing, and policy campaigns.
Event Date: August 14, 2025