IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2022 - 105

Commentary
Modern Servitude and Vulnerable
Social Groups: The Problem of the AI
Datafication of Poor People and Women
Maria Tzanou
Keele University, Staffordshire ST5 5BG, U.K.
 The presenT conTribuTion addresses a particular
manifestation of " modern indentured servitude " :
the almost ubiquitous artificial intelligence
(AI) datafication. This is evident in the collective
forms of submission that all of us are experiencing as
a result of the digital transformation and the increasing
techno-management of all aspects of our everyday
lives. This contribution focuses on the modern
servitude of vulnerable social groups and discusses
the problems of the AI datafication of poor people
and women.
In his 2019 Report to the United Nations (UN)
General Assembly, the Special Rapporteur on
extreme poverty and human rights, Prof. Philip
Alston detailed the emergence of the " digital welfare
state. " Systems of social protection and assistance
worldwide (commonly known as the " welfare
state " ) that provide a range of government services
and goods to underprivileged persons, such as
low-income individuals, job-seekers, and persons
with disabilities are increasingly employing digital
technologies to " automate, predict, identify, surveil,
detect, target, harass, and punish " their beneficiaries,
" especially the poorest and most vulnerable
among them " [18]. Digital innovation is used by the
welfare state to verify the identity of benefits applicants
(requiring often the retention of biometric
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2022.3173347
Date of current version: 14 June 2022.
June 2022
data), assess their eligibility, calculate payments
benefits, prevent and detect welfare fraud, and calculate
potential fraud or other risks. In the report,
the Special Rapporteur lamented that:
" unrestricted data-matching is used to expose and
punish the slightest irregularities in the record of
welfare beneficiaries (while assiduously avoiding
such measures in relation to the well-off); evermore
refined surveillance options enable aroundthe-clock
monitoring of beneficiaries; conditions
are imposed on recipients that undermine individual
autonomy and choice in relation to sexual
and reproductive choices and choices in relation
to food, alcohol, drugs and much else; and highly
punitive sanctions are able to be imposed on
those who step out of line. "
It is hardly new or surprising that the poor are
subjected to surveillance. Indeed, the poor have
sustained for years pervasive surveillance of their
bodies, habits, decisions, and homes (or the lack
thereof) [23]. For instance, the homeless have since
long been criminalized for engaging in " activities
that would be perfectly legal inside a home: standing
or sitting in one place for long periods of time,
sleeping, drinking alcohol, and engaging in sexual
activity " [22].
What is perhaps more perversely remark worthy
about the emergence of the " digital welfare
state " is the inherent assumption that the poor can
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IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2022

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