Section Article

Invisible Labour in the Age of AI: Recognition Precarity and Social Justice among Human-AI Workforces
Author(s): Prof. Ivaan Verma

Abstract
The rapid expansion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming contemporary labour by redistributing tasks reshaping occupational roles and creating new forms of human participation in technologically mediated production. While AI is frequently presented as a substitute for human labour many automated systems depend on extensive forms of human work that remain socially and economically invisible. Data annotation content moderation AI training platform-based microtasks quality assessment and other forms of human oversight are essential to the functioning of intelligent systems yet the workers performing these activities often experience low wages insecure employment limited recognition and weak institutional protection. This paper examines invisible labour within human-AI workforces through the interconnected concepts of recognition precarity and social justice. Drawing on secondary literature and a qualitative conceptual methodology the study explores how AI reorganizes rather than simply eliminates human labour. It argues that technological progress can conceal new inequalities when human contributions are excluded from public and economic recognition. The paper proposes a justice-oriented framework that places worker visibility dignity fair compensation social protection and participatory governance at the centre of AI-driven labour transformation.