Workers at the headquarters of Ruijin Technology Company in Jiaxian, in...READ ON
Workers at the headquarters of Ruijin Technology Company in Jiaxian, in central China’s Henan Province. They identify objects in images to help artificial intelligence make sense of the world.
Two workers discuss the details of data labeling in a 3D interface for...READ ON
Two workers discuss the details of data labeling in a 3D interface for driverless cars in Jia County, China, October 2018. Although data tagging staff receive training before they start working, they need guidance during work to avoid mistakes.
A data labeling worker and a screen on which people are to be labeled for...READ ON
A data labeling worker and a screen on which people are to be labeled for artificial intelligence to learn.
A data labeling worker and a screen on which a thermometer is labeled for...READ ON
A data labeling worker and a screen on which a thermometer is labeled for artificial intelligence to learn.
A data labeling worker and a screen on which a spare part is labeled for...READ ON
A data labeling worker and a screen on which a spare part is labeled for artificial intelligence to learn.
A data labeling worker and a screen on which cars are labeled in a 3D...READ ON
A data labeling worker and a screen on which cars are labeled in a 3D interface for artificial intelligence to learn.
A data labeling worker and a screen on which objects are labeled for...READ ON
A data labeling worker and a screen on which objects are labeled for artificial intelligence to learn.
A mouse pad that a data labeling worker uses at his desk.
Inside Yunzhi Data Processing Company's office, a statue of the God of...READ ON
Inside Yunzhi Data Processing Company's office, a statue of the God of wealth is on the desk for good fortune, November 2018.
From iPhone’s Face ID to Deep Fake, AI technologies are so closely connected with imagery, yet too abstract to photograph. When I visited data labeling factories on assignment for The New York Times, I found this job fascinating, and the assignment evolved into a personal project.
China is developing and applying Artificial Intelligence technologies faster than any other countries in the world. To help machines to make sense of the world, cheap labors are hired to label almost everything, from pens to traffic lights, from walking pedestrians to spare parts on assembly lines. The workers call themselves the “construction workers in the digital world,” in a New York Times story. By putting data labeling workers and the screen they look at side by side, this project aims to present the contrast of human and machine, and to explore the irony of machine learning and automation: what roles do we play in this increasingly automated world?
Yan Cong
Yan Cong is an independent photographer based in Beijing. She focuses most of her long-term projects on women’s issues, rural China, and China’s relations with its neighbors.