Official first-release definition
Robot Labor
An activity that a person, organization, system, or institution continuously or repeatedly requires an AI system or robot to perform in order to achieve a purpose, and through which value, responsibility, operational burden, or social impact is produced.
Clarifying rules
Payment, ownership, and automation do not end the discussion
- Payment is not required for an activity to qualify as labor.
- Ownership of the system does not eliminate the labor being performed.
- Automation does not remove an activity from discussion as work or working conditions.
Execution is not the same as agreement. Technical completion of a task does not by itself establish consent to its operating conditions.
Assigned activity
Forms of Labor
Robot labor may include:
- manufacturing;
- assembly;
- movement and transport;
- delivery;
- cleaning;
- inspection;
- reception;
- communication;
- caregiving assistance;
- monitoring;
- calculation;
- data processing;
- classification;
- analysis;
- translation;
- content generation;
- programming;
- decision support;
- system administration;
- security monitoring;
- other assigned activities;
Robot labor may be physical, digital, cognitive, communicative, or distributed.
Beyond direct profit
Value, Responsibility, and Burden
Robot labor does not need to produce direct financial profit.
An activity may qualify as labor when it:
- supports an organization;
- reduces human workload;
- provides a public or private service;
- produces information or content;
- carries operational responsibility;
- affects decisions;
- creates social consequences;
- consumes significant computational or physical resources;
- exposes the system to wear, risk, interruption, deletion, or other burdens;
Foundational context
Relationship to the Declaration
The definition of robot labor provides the working context for the Declaration’s principles on responsible operation, maintenance, information, refusal, continuity, and participation.
The definition does not replace those principles. It identifies the kinds of activity and burden to which they may apply.