Humans in the Loop, director Aranya Sahay’s 2024 film about an Adivasi woman working as a data annotator, was screened at the UNESCO House in New Delhi on September 6. The film explored the hidden biases behind Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the ethical dilemmas associated with the technology while providing a glance at the human labour that powers the “artificial” intelligence.
During the post-screening discussion, executive producer Kiran Rao pointed out that many contemporary conversations about AI centred on the economics of the business. “Our film talks about equitability, representation and data colonialism,” she added.
The movie’s protagonist, Nehma, lives in a remote village in Jharkhand, taking care of a rebellious school-going daughter and an infant son. She also finds work as a data annotator, labelling objects in images and videos accurately to create datasets for training AI models. Nehma begins her work with some hesitation and confusion initially, not entirely understanding the technology and her role in it. However, she soon grows fond of her work, likening AI to a child that needs to be “taught” the right things.
And what is the right thing for an AI to be taught? That question forms the central premise of the film, following Nehma’s inner turmoil as she navigates the conflict between her manager’s expectations and what she knows to be true and right.
Initially, Nehma’s job is simple enough – label and outline body parts accurately so she can get a human-like computer model to walk. She completes her task successfully, and the model stumbles, falls, and finally walks upright, much to her joy.
Her second task is a lot more morally complex. Nehma and her team are working for an agritech firm that wants them to go through millions of images and accurately label crops and pests, like small insects or critters. The result? The so-called ‘pests’ are violently eradicated with a precision laser, with the crops left to thrive.
This is where the ‘Humans in the Loop’ film raises a crucial point – what makes something a pest? Nehma is visibly uncomfortable with the display of the laser’s awesome power as it scorches a small caterpillar. Acting on a whim, she decides not to label that particular critter as a pest.
The results pour in, and Nehma’s American clients are incensed. They demand that Nehma’s supervisor either fix the mistakes or risk losing the contract. The ball eventually falls in Nehma’s court, where she explains her reasoning. That particular caterpillar isn’t a pest, she argues, but a harmless critter that only eats the dead part of leaves without damaging the crop as a whole.
Nehma’s supervisor won’t have it – “Client ne bola hai pest hai, to hai,” she exclaims in Hindi, meaning that if the client considers something to be a pest, then that is a pest.
So who is in the right here? Nehma’s knowledge comes from her own lived experience…
Source link
Disclaimer
We strive to uphold the highest ethical standards in all of our reporting and coverage. We blogs.grocliq.com want to be transparent with our readers about any potential conflicts of interest that may arise in our work. It’s possible that some of the investors we feature may have connections to other businesses, including competitors or companies we write about. However, we want to assure our readers that this will not have any impact on the integrity or impartiality of our reporting. We are committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news and information to our audience, and we will continue to uphold our ethics and principles in all of our work. Thank you for your trust and support.
Website Upgradation is going on for any glitch kindly connect at [email protected]
