This talk looks at the world of work through the lens of capitalist-imperialist practices of value extraction. Drawing on her research into AI development and adoption in Global Value Chains, Dr. Sana Ahmad explores how the workers developing these technologies – especially migrants and those in the Global South – face increasing labour precariousness and disempowerment. They are also more vulnerable to risks of job loss and entrenched inequality driven by rapid technological change. Labour movements and policy makers need to grapple with the structural conditions shaping workers‘ lives if the promises of work are to meaningfully realised.