Now streaming on Netflix, Aranya Sahay’s Humans in the Loop is a distinctive and quietly powerful drama that follows an Indigenous woman in rural India whose livelihood depends on labelling images for an artificial intelligence system. In a world where AI has rapidly become a multi-million-dollar global industry, it is increasingly difficult to pass a day without brushing up against some version of it – whether through chatbots, algorithmic photo edits, deepfakes, or the ever-present fear of automated plagiarism.
For better or worse, AI has become woven into daily life, shaping experiences at work and at home. Nehma (Sonal Sagore), the film’s central character, is one of countless underpaid workers who perform the meticulous and often invisible labour of “teaching” AI systems how to interpret concepts such as beauty, perfection, or whatever subjective ideal a client demands. Her professional world is defined by repetition and precision, yet little appreciation.
At home, Nehma faces a very different set of challenges. She is embroiled in a painful custody dispute with her estranged husband, who hopes to remarry – preferably into a family that will raise his social standing. Her teenage daughter has retreated into the familiar silence of adolescence, while her young son drifts at the edges of neglect. The emotional weight of her domestic life contrasts starkly with the clinical clarity demanded by her work.
Sahay’s direction invites the viewer into a landscape of striking natural beauty, celebrating rural traditions and rhythms while also critiquing the reductive nature of AI systems that can easily reinforce harmful assumptions if not carefully guided. The film touches on a host of interconnected issues: India’s entrenched caste structures, the dominance of Western beauty standards, environmental degradation, and the widening cultural gap between city and countryside.
Although Nehma describes AI as having the comprehension of a child, the film quietly reminds us that its rapid evolution risks outpacing the very humans tasked with shaping it – challenging our ability to sort, interpret, and define the world around us.