In recent years, a process of transformation in labor markets has accelerated, driven by the development and spread of digital technologies. The social world in general, and the world of work in particular, is undergoing digitization processes that are altering how work is organized and managed, its formal status, the conditions under which it is performed, strategies of control and resistance, and modes of integration, among other dimensions. These changes pose enormous challenges for the social sciences, for states, and for social and labor movements on a global scale. However, the concrete effects of these processes cannot be adequately understood without a situated perspective that takes into account the historical, socioeconomic, and political specificities of Latin America and the Caribbean. The region is characterized by profound structural heterogeneity, marked by unequal levels of development and integration into global value chains, high levels of informality, and persistent inequalities based on class, gender, ethnicity, and race. Furthermore, there are diverse state capacities in labor and technological regulation, as well as distinct labor and political traditions. These factors play a decisive role in shaping both the forms that productive digitization and the experiences of work mediated by platforms and Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems take.

Despite this diversity, there is still insufficient research to understand these changes from a regional perspective. A significant portion of the literature shaping contemporary debates on digital work originates in the Global North, where labor transformations unfold under institutional, technological, economic, and political conditions substantially different from those in Latin America. Both theoretical concepts and empirical analyses emerge and solidify in contexts characterized by more formalized labor markets, more robust technological infrastructures, more stable regulatory frameworks, and established institutional actors. The global circulation of these categories is often uncritically assimilated, which obscures or diminishes regional particularities, limiting the analytical capacity to understand local phenomena and, consequently, to design effective public policies and union strategies.

The region exhibits, in fact, a differential and profoundly unequal use of digital work technologies. On the one hand, the accelerated growth of delivery, transportation, microtasking, and professional services platforms has expanded the margins of precarity, reinforcing historical trends of informality, social vulnerability, and outsourcing. At the same time, regional research also suggests that these are job opportunities valued positively by people, especially in contrast to available employment alternatives. On the other hand, the adoption of artificial intelligence technologies in specific sectors of industry, financial services, education, commerce, and public administration raises questions about how these tools redefine labor hierarchies, qualification processes, and forms of control and resistance. All of this unfolds within a framework of persistent digital divides, territorial inequalities, disparate state capacities, and conflicting technology policies—factors that condition both the diffusion of technologies and their impact on employment conditions.

Faced with this complex and rapidly changing scenario, it becomes essential to construct a critical, situated, and regionally articulated perspective that allows us to problematize conceptual assumptions originating from the Global North and develop our own analytical categories. These categories enable us to critically examine knowledge production based on Latin American experiences that challenge and enrich international debates. Hybrid forms of formality and informality, fragmented institutional arrangements, the diversity of union strategies and political traditions, heterogeneous state responses, the organizational creativity of workers, and the particularities of technological innovation in the region constitute a fertile ground for theoretical development.

Similarly, there is a need to strengthen the circulation and exchange of regional theoretical and empirical knowledge, as well as to stimulate relations with the rest of the regions of the Global South, which will at least allow for a balance between the North-South radial circulation that reinforces a dependent construction of knowledge.

This is why the creation of the Working Group on Digital Work, Platforms, and Artificial Intelligence within the CLACSO framework is presented as a strategic initiative. Bringing together researchers from different countries will consolidate a space for ongoing dialogue, methodological exchange, and collective reflection, helping to overcome the current dispersion and fragmentation of studies, strengthen analytical capacities, and promote comparative research that accounts for regional heterogeneity. Furthermore, a network of this kind will make it possible to identify common patterns, significant divergences, and emerging processes that need to be conceptualized using Latin American parameters and criteria.

Collaborative work will also facilitate the construction of updated diagnoses and the generation of robust empirical evidence to guide public policies, regulatory debates and collective organization strategies in the face of the advance of the logics of delaborization, deprotection and fragmentation that are brought about, in the current modalities, by the processes of platformization and digitization of work.

In a context where governments and social actors face unprecedented challenges, the production of situated knowledge is a fundamental input for defending labor rights, promoting new rights emerging from the concrete needs of Latin American populations, fostering equitable digital inclusion, and designing responses that consider the diverse national trajectories. In turn, networking will encourage the training of young researchers, the dissemination of materials, the strengthening of comparative capacities, and the building of bridges between academia, labor movements, and public institutions.

Finally, this proposal aligns with the Latin American tradition of critical research on labor, inequality, and development, which has historically contributed original perspectives to international debates. The consolidation of a specific regional space for the study of digital work will allow this tradition to be updated and projected toward contemporary challenges, affirming the need to produce knowledge from the Global South to understand phenomena that, while global in scope, manifest themselves specifically in each territory.

The creation of this working group has the overall objective of consolidating a stable space for researchers from different countries, focused on the continuous exchange of knowledge, methodologies, and national experiences related to digital work. At the same time, it seeks to promote the development of a common research agenda that allows for addressing specific problems of regional and subregional scope, taking into account the heterogeneities that characterize labor markets and regulatory frameworks in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The increasing proliferation of work platforms, the integration of digital technologies into traditional production sectors, and the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence systems at various stages of production chains are reshaping how work is organized, managed, and experienced. These transformations generate new tensions and questions that require a collective and comparative approach, capable of situating local specificities within broader global dynamics.

To this end, a set of analytical dimensions is established to guide the debate and collaboration within the Working Group. These dimensions allow for the organization of the main conceptual and empirical challenges that emerge in the face of the advancement of digital work, and include: working conditions; business and labor process management models; changes in the organization of work time and space; transformations in subjectivities; forms of collective organization; and regulatory processes. Each of these will be developed below to define its relevance and the debates it opens up within the field:

1. Working Conditions: Analyzing working conditions in digital environments is crucial for understanding the depth of the transformations underway. The expansion of digital technologies in general, and of platforms and artificial intelligence systems in particular, is reshaping traditional aspects such as job stability, work intensity, control mechanisms, and social protection. Debates are emerging around contractual ambiguity, the unequal distribution of risks between companies and workers, new forms of digital surveillance, and the fragmentation of labor collectives. These transformations are part of structural processes of deteriorating working conditions, deepening the precariousness and informalization of labor markets. This section will allow us to discuss how these dynamics impact the quality of work and the emergence of new inequalities.

2. Business Models and Work Process Management: Digital platforms and other data-driven companies are introducing business models that challenge traditional categories of labor analysis. Algorithmic management, new forms of intermediation and outsourcing, and data monetization are redefining how production is organized and who captures the value generated. At the same time, algorithmic management systems are transforming supervision, performance evaluation, and task allocation, resulting in decentralized yet highly concentrated forms of management in terms of power and control over the production process. This section will seek to open a dialogue on technological governance mechanisms, business strategies, and their impact on workers' autonomy and bargaining power.

3. Changes in the organization of time and workspace: The digitalization of work makes the boundaries between work and non-work time, as well as between productive and domestic spaces, more flexible and often blurred. From teleworking to the constant availability imposed by platforms, new tensions are emerging around time management, rest, and work-life balance. Likewise, urban areas are being reconfigured by the dynamics of digital work. This theme will allow us to discuss how these transformations reorganize the everyday experience of work and the forms of exploitation and autonomy they enable or restrict.

4. Subjectivities: Technological transformations affect not only the objective organization of work but also the construction of work-related subjectivities. The promises of autonomy, flexibility, and entrepreneurship coexist with experiences of isolation, uncertainty, and self-imposed pressure driven by reputation systems and performance metrics. This section will address how workers give meaning to their work, which elements are specific to digital work and which correspond to the current stage of capitalism, how professional identities are configured in contexts of fragmentation, and how corporate narratives and discourses operate on work identities in terms of appropriation, resistance, or reinterpretation.

5. Collective Organization: In a landscape marked by spatial dispersion, contractual instability, and algorithmic mediation, collective organization faces unprecedented challenges. However, new forms and repertoires of collective action are also emerging, including new unions, non-union groups, platform cooperatives, transnational networks, and innovative legal strategies, as well as new rights agendas and new forms of protest. This section proposes to discuss the tensions between the deconstruction and reconstitution of collective power, the forms of resistance to ongoing transformations, and the possibilities of articulating demands in contexts of dispersion, atomization, and heterogeneity of work experiences.

6. Regulations: The regulation of digital work is a highly contested field, marked by debates on job classification, corporate responsibilities, data protection, algorithmic transparency, and collective rights. Various countries are experimenting with regulatory frameworks that redefine the obligations of platforms, seek to limit precarious employment, and promote accountability for automated systems. This section will allow for a comparative analysis of these processes, a discussion of their scope and limitations, and a reflection on the necessary conditions for guaranteeing rights in work environments mediated by digital technologies.

Taken together, these dimensions allow us to draw a broad and dynamic map of the challenges posed by digital work in the region. By addressing technological transformations, forms of work organization, and their social implications in an integrated manner, the aim is not only to enrich the academic understanding of the phenomenon but also to contribute to the formulation of debates and guidelines that are relevant to public, labor, and social actors.