What does it take to organize online with a global reach? At Turkopticon, we strive to unite an often invisible group, crowd workers, on Amazon's Mechanical Turk, a platform frequently used to develop AI. In pursuit of stronger worker rights, we bring together workers from many countries to make turking a job where workers have a voice. Within Mturk, workers can have tasks rejected and unpaid, causing a loss of work and permanent damage to employee reputations.

We will explain the unique challenges of organizing online workers. We have to build relationships across various social media platforms and other corners where workers gather. We hold community forums with flexible scheduling so workers can jump in when they have a moment, whatever their time zones. We will share these learnings and more about organizing a virtual workforce while providing access for all.

Participatory: We propose a panel to share what we have learned and faced so far, and engage the audience in a brainstorming session with breakouts on ways to build power and voice with workers. Turkopticon’s current mass rejections campaign will be our focus, as we’ve been reaching out and organizing across the globe for this.

Inclusive: This panel is about giving a voice to the human behind the machine. When your labor develops AI that ends up in every household, feeling invisible takes on a global weight. We want the world to hear the human voice behind AI. We want the crowd worker sitting in their living room not to get lost in the advancement of the machine most assume to be automatic.

Accessible: Participants can use chat or audio. A virtual panel allows for international participation because, as often invisible AI workers, we seek a platform to speak to the global tech industry.