The Dark Side of the AI Industry: Argentine Scholar Warns of 'Three Major Forms of Exploitation' in Creativity, Labor, and Resources

Dr. Miceli Criticizes Structural Issues Inherent in the AI Industry
"Warns Against Concentration of Power in a Few Tech Corporations"

Dr. Milagros Miceli, an Argentine selected by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) worldwide in 2025, has strongly criticized the social and environmental side effects of the AI industry. She emphasized that AI is not merely a technology, but a political apparatus that grants a handful of global corporations the power to determine what is considered truth, warning of the dangers inherent in a structure where economic and intellectual authority can become concentrated within major platforms.

Dr. Milagros Miceli, selected by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in AI worldwide in 2025. Milagros Miceli X

According to Argentine media outlet Ambito on December 7 (local time), Dr. Miceli stated during a recent public lecture in Buenos Aires that, contrary to the technological progress promoted by the industry, the spread of AI technology is fundamentally underpinned by an exploitative structure in three dimensions: creativity, labor, and resources.

A sociologist and PhD in computer science, she is recognized for placing human ethics-often sidelined in AI discussions focused solely on technological advancement-at the center of the conversation. The first structural issue of the AI industry, as outlined by Dr. Miceli, is the 'intellectual exploitation' of human creativity. She pointed out the unauthorized and non-consensual use of countless creative works during AI model training, stating, "AI does not create; it merely extracts and mixes human creations on a massive scale, producing low-quality results. Generative tools are not for the public good, but rather models designed to maximize the commercial interests of a few corporations."

The second issue is 'labor exploitation.' She raised concerns about the lack of proper compensation for large-scale data work that enables AI technology. The vast human labor force engaged in tasks such as image classification, moderation of violent content, text labeling, and data cleaning is deliberately concealed, and most workers in these roles are subjected to vulnerable working conditions. Dr. Miceli criticized this as "not a mere side effect, but a deliberate institutional design strategy to avoid costs and responsibility."

The third issue is 'resource exploitation.' Data centers require enormous amounts of water and electricity for cooling, yet the environmental impact and burdens on local communities are ignored, and these centers create few jobs. Dr. Miceli explained, "Data centers physically occupy specific spaces and cause pollution in very concrete ways, bringing various inconveniences to local residents. Aside from the initial construction boom, they create only about 150 to 200 jobs, which is comparable to a large supermarket. Building a supermarket might actually be less polluting and more valuable."

Dr. Miceli particularly emphasized that the focus of AI’s potential side effects should not be on the technology itself, but on the concentration of economic, political, and intellectual power resulting from a handful of global corporations controlling data, infrastructure, and labor. She stated, "Technology is always political. In this context, politics is not about party politics, but about the dynamics of power-who owns the means of production and who possesses the data."

Dr. Miceli warned that "companies will effectively acquire the power to determine what is considered true," cautioning against such monopolistic structures. She added, "Blindly worshipping technology without considering its environmental and social costs ultimately harms communities and the planet," and called for critical reflection and social debate on AI, rather than uncritical acceptance.