How algorithmic automation could manage workers ethically

Management by humans can be dismal. "In the old world of cabbing, the drivers were often abused," says James Farrar, director of non-profit organisation Worker Info Exchange (WIE). Drivers would pay the same fee to drive for a taxi company, but receive differing amounts of business. "You'd have so-called'fed' drivers [fed with work] and'starved' drivers, with favoured drivers getting all the nice work," he says, with some dispatchers who allocated work demanding bribes. As a result, many welcomed dispatchers being replaced by algorithms: Farrar recalls cheering this in a session for new Uber drivers.