DIGITAL LABOUR AND EPISTEMIC ERASURE: A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND AI INFRASTRUCTURES IN HUMANS IN THE LOOP

This paper explores how artificial intelligence (AI) and digital labour affect marginalised identities, using the 2025 Netflix film Humans in the Loop (directed by Aranya Sahay). Research follows the female protagonist of the film, named Nehma, an Indigenous (Adivasi) woman who works as a data labeller. Her deep, traditional knowledge about nature is ignored because of the way AI categorisation systems use a rigid, one-size-fits-all sorting method and act as epistemic hierarchies that erase Indigenous ways of living and thinking. Using a social semiotic approach, the research identifies a disconnection between local ecological knowledge and the rigid binary logic of machine-learning infrastructures. The article argues that digital frameworks mirror power dynamics inside educational institutions, where underrepresented students often have their cultural identity and cultural expressions erased or misrepresented. By analysing the lived experiences of marginalised communities, the study critiques techno-solutionist solutions and proposes solutions grounded in epistemic justice, cultural agency and equity and recommends that equitable AI systems require moving away from extractive labour practices to recognise the intellectual and cultural contributions of the Global South.