The metaverse is ushering in a new era of behind-the-scenes exploitation

By Vincent Charles, Reader in AI for Business and Management Science, Queen's University Belfast
Tatiana Gherman, Associate Professor of AI for Business and Strategy, University of Northampton

From ancient slavery to the factory floor, progress has often relied on the exploitation of human beings. We might like to believe those days are well behind us. But in the digital age, AI and the metaverse risk repeating that pattern with new forms of invisible labour and inequality.

Ridley Scott’s 2000 film Gladiator told the story of Maximus Decimus Meridius, a betrayed Roman general who becomes enslaved and must fight as a gladiator to entertain the Roman elite. The sequel offered a new perspective on cycles of exploitation and the struggle for dignity.

Both films hold…

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