Gig economy workers are urging delivery platforms to open up the “black box” of computer-driven algorithms that determine the jobs they are offered and how much they are paid, blaming increased use of AI for lowering wages. A group of food delivery riders in Edinburgh say their rates of pay have fallen and their working conditions have deteriorated at the same time as Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat, the three dominant gig economy platforms in the UK and Ireland, have increased their use of automation. “I am making half the money I was making four years ago, for the same amount of hours. It makes no sense,” said David, a food delivery rider in Edinburgh for the past seven years who did not want to share his surname. On a weekday afternoon in the Scottish capital, David and other food delivery riders are sharing their experiences of worsening pay and conditions before they go their separate ways to carry food and groceries to customers’ doorsteps during the dinnertime rush. Standing next to their bikes and insulated food delivery bags in central Edinburgh’s Bristo Square, many have cycled the city streets for several years and tracked a gradual decline in the amount they are paid, even though they continue to deliver similar numbers of orders. The group has come together through the Workers’ Observatory, a charity founded by gig economy workers alongside academics at St Andrews and Edinburgh universities. Its aim is to help riders research the parts of their working experience that are mostly concealed by the companies that operate delivery platforms, to help them to challenge their working conditions. David’s experience is echoed by Xabier Villares, who has been riding for eight years and is now the observatory’s lead organiser. “There has been a dramatic change in the