Global Digital Futures Workshop: Power, Platforms and the Digital Economy When: May 22, 2018 Where: Columbia University (Sponsored by SIPA - School of International and Public Affairs ) Featured Speakers: Antonio Casili and Greg Taylor Large tech companies and platforms play an increasing role in shaping the exchanges (social, commercial, personal, industrial) underpinning contemporary societies, and they are subject to an increasing - and increasingly contradictory set of laws, norms and standards. Digitization has also gone hand in hand with a concentration of market power and data and while this has clearly brought tremendous benefits to consumers, innovation, and inclusion, it has raised a number of regulatory concerns. During this workshop, we will explore two of the major emerging avenues for regulating these platforms: antitrust and digital labor. Presenters 1. Greg Taylor (Associate Professor, Senior Research Fellow, Programme Director, Oxford Internet Institute): “Upstream Bundling and Leverage of Market Power” It is well-known that bundling by a monopolist is profitable only under limited conditions. Motivated by the recent Google-Android antitrust case, we present a new rationale for bundling by a multiproduct upstream firm. Consider a market where downstream firms (e.g., handset manufacturers) procure components (e.g., apps) from upstream suppliers. Firm 1 is the only supplier of component A, but faces competition for component B. We show that firm 1 can profit from bundling A and B together if A increases demand for the downstream product and generates revenues through ads or in-app purchases. Bundling A and B reduces rival B firms’ willingness to offer slotting fees to the downstream firm, which allows the bundling firm to capture more of the industry profit. Bundling harms the downstream firm and the B rivals, and can be anticompetitive. But it can also commoditise the downstream product (e.g., smartphones), leaving consumers better-off. This paper makes a significant contribution that will support future antitrust cases on the bases of abuse and dominance. We present a new theory of harm, together with the market conditions under which this theory is valid, which should provide a practical toolset for policymakers. 2. Antonio Casilli (Associate Professor, Telecom ParisTech, Research Fellow, Paris School for Advanced Studies in Social Science): “Who Prepares Your Data? Micro-work and Artificial Intelligence's Ethical Challenges” Since recent developments in economic theory questioned the displacement effects of AI on employment (i.e. the “robots will steal our jobs” hypothesis), recent public debates have revolved around AI-induced work. Research is underway to surface the actual amount of visible and invisible human labor demanded to produce automated solutions, and how this labor can comply with legal and ethical principles of fairness and transparency. A specific form of AI-motivated human activity is the emerging phenomenon of micro-work. Specialized crowd-sourcing platforms (such as Amazon Mechanical Turk and Crowdflower) enable the massive allocation of standardized micro-tasks. The functioning of smart equipment, driverless cars and virtual assistants is predicated on huge amounts of data that need human work to be prepared (annotated, labelled, qualified, refined, or augmented). Micro-work is also needed to evaluate the outcomes of machine learning models. Sometimes, micro-work also disguises residual tasks of larger data processing operations that could be automated, but that unskilled humans can still solve more cheaply and accurately than computers. Specific concerns arise not only in terms of working conditions and labor rights, but also in relation to the transfer of data across borders where specific data regulation applies. AI’s worldwide “micro-workforce” introduces distinctive, often overlooked societal risks. Non-disclosure of number of workers, of actual type of tasks, of contractual and financial frameworks of these services introduces a gap in our knowledge of this peculiar type of “data work”. This gap needs to be addressed in view of possible consequences not only on effectiveness of automated solutions, but also on citizens' privacy and trust. Objectives The Global Digital Futures Workshop aims at -Gathering a small group of scholars, practitioners and policymakers -Discuss and workshop draft papers -Write an op-ed on platform regulation Schedule 1pm – 1.30pm: Registration 1.30pm – 2.45pm: Presentation: Greg Taylor 2.45pm – 3.15pm: Coffee Break 3.15pm – 4.30pm: Presentation: Antonio Casilli 4.30pm – 5pm: Coffee Break 5pm – 6pm: Discussion J e n S c h r a d i e, P h D Research Fellow Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse Maison des Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société Université Toulouse Web: www.schradie.com<http://www.schradie.com> E-mail: jen.schradie@iast.fr<mailto:jen.schradie@iast.fr> Twitter: @schradie Phone: +33 7 62 40 58 21<tel:%2B33%207%2062%2040%2058%2021> <https://medium.com/@schradie/competing-twitter-hashtags-reflect-divided-response-to-paris-attacks-f1da06869bc9#.ilywwy8p7>