Yan Cong

Photographer
  
The People behind Automation
Location: Beijing
Nationality: China
Biography: Yan Cong (b.1991) is a researcher and independent photographer based in Amsterdam. Her current research interests are platform, datafication, ethical AI, culture production and labor. Yan is the co-founder of  Far & Near , a newsletter... MORE
Public Story
The People behind Automation
Copyright Yan Cong 2024
Date of Work Oct 2018 - Nov 2018
Updated Aug 2019
Topics Photojournalism
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?
LinkedIn Icon Facebook Icon Twitter Icon
6,679

Also by Yan Cong —

Story

#AccessAbility

Yan Cong / Beijing
Story

The Price of Happiness [Multimedia]

Yan Cong / china
Story

Hotel Quarantine through a Peephole

Yan Cong / Beijing
Story

The Real Man Club

Yan Cong / Beijing
Story

The Hanfu Revival

Yan Cong / Beijing
Story

Singles

Yan Cong / China
Story

A Cambodian Bride in China

Yan Cong / zhengzhou
Story

If China Builds It, Will the Arab World Come?

Yan Cong / Yinchuan, Ningxia, China
Story

The Military Parade

Yan Cong / Beijing, China
Story

Underground

Yan Cong
Story

Sunset Park Dreaming (Ongoing)

Yan Cong / Sunset Park, Brooklyn
Story

Navigating Elopement

Yan Cong
Story

"Lite Feet" on the train

Yan Cong
The People behind Automation by Yan Cong
Sign-up for
For more access