Box 6.2 How AI amplifies the market power of ride-hailing and delivery platforms (continued) Several countries have pushed back. In 2021, the United Kingdom Supreme Court declared that Uber drivers are “workers” entitled to minimum wage and paid leave. That same year, a Dutch court ruled that algorithmic management constituted a “modern relationship of authority” and deemed Uber an employer. Spain’s Rider Law compels delivery platforms to treat couriers as employees and establishes worker rights regarding algorithmic management and labor protections. Platforms have responded in three ways. Some exit markets when confronted with employment classification, as Deliveroo did in Spain following the passage of the Rider Law in 2021. Others switch to subcontracting models that preserve algorithmic control while avoiding direct employment. A third group lobbies for intermediate legal categories that retain flexibility without granting full employment rights. Proposition 22 in California is the most prominent example. What distinguishes this dynamic from conventional employment disputes is AI’s ability to scale and automate control. Algorithms can monitor thousands of workers simultaneously, adjust pricing across entire cities in seconds, and enforce performance standards with no human oversight. This shifts the balance of power in ways that individual workers cannot counter. A driver cannot negotiate with an algorithm, appeal to its discretion, or organize fellow drivers when the platform controls who sees which messages. Although AI is not the only source of monopsony power,b it makes exercising the powers held by employers cheaper, faster, and harder to contest. Source: WDR 2026 team. a. Refer to ruling from Court of Amsterdam, 8937120 CV EXPL 20-22882, September 13, 2021, https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/amsterdam-uber-ruling.pdf. b. Monopsony refers to a market in which there is a single buyer or a small group of dominant buyers: in the context of this box, employer. Dynamics between citizens and the state: AI strengthens the state’s hand, for better or worse AI is changing the relationship between states and their citizens in two opposing directions. While AI can improve the delivery of public services (refer to chapter 5), it can also facilitate widespread surveillance, polarize public discourse, and sway voter behavior. Public perceptions of AI in developing countries reflect this dichotomy. Among surveyed low- and middle-income countries, levels of concern are highest in Brazil and Argentina (and similar to those in the United States and Europe), and lowest in Nigeria and India (refer to figure 6.4). These differences show that attitudes concerning AI are influenced by the context of the country, not only its income level. AI’s Political Impact: Reshaping Power Within and Across Countries 215