How the National Domestic Workers Alliance is Using AI to Build Power for Essential Workers

Leydy, who has worked as a cleaner for many years, knew she deserved a raise, but she didn’t know how to ask for one or what a fair wage should be. She turned to Ask Aya, an AI-powered platform designed specifically for domestic workers, for help. She described her situation and Aya asked her follow up questions: where she lived, how long she had been working, and what she currently earned and then responded with guidance tailored to her situation. Leydy learned she was being paid below her state’s minimum wage. With Aya’s support, she identified a fair rate based on her experience and practiced how to hold a conversation with her employer. 

“She helped me practice, like a coach. She told me I could do it,” said Leydy, who negotiated her wage from $15 to $17 per hour. With her new knowledge, she has since begun negotiating a contract with benefits including paid time off. 

Stories like this reflect what many in the domestic labor market are facing. Every day, millions of people head to work knowing our children are cared for, our aging parents are supported and our homes are in good hands thanks to a largely invisible workforce made up of nannies, house cleaners, home care aides and more. Despite the essential nature of their labor, though, many domestic workers remain among the most economically vulnerable and legally underprotected workers in the country.

The National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) is fighting to change that through organizing, policy advocacy and innovation. Their latest initiative, Ask Aya, is an AI-powered platform built in partnership with more than 1,000 domestic workers. 

With support from the GitLab Foundation, NDWA launched Ask Aya in March 2026, as the core offering of a new online Membership Center. Their goal is to reach 10% of the U.S. domestic workforce (approximately 220,000 workers) within three years, equipping them with the tools to negotiate better wages, understand their legal rights and connect with each other across the isolation that often comes with domestic work.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, 91.5% of domestic workers are women and 52.4% are Black, Hispanic or AAPI women. Even as critical workers in the care economy, they earn a median wage of $13.79 per hour, over 36% less than the typical non-domestic worker. They are also more likely than workers in almost any other sector to be immigrants and have the highest concentration of undocumented workers in the country. 

Unlike workers in offices or factories, domestic workers are spread out across households, often working in one-on-one relationships with employers or in informal arrangements without clear agreements. Due to this isolation, colleagues are not readily available to discuss workplace exploitation including underpayment or unsafe conditions.  Ask Aya is grounded in the lived experiences of the people it’s meant to serve and creates connections with workers just like them to help solve this gap. 

The platform uses retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to deliver legally accurate, personalized guidance. When a worker logs into Ask Aya, the system identifies their state and type of domestic work from their profile, then fetches specific legal content that applies to them. Domestic workers’ legal rights vary from state to state, so Aya draws from a knowledge base built specifically around domestic work policy instead of general legal databases. Ask Aya also offers tools for everyday challenges in domestic work — users can access contract templates, pricing guidance and customized wage negotiation scripts. The Membership Center surrounding Aya adds how-to videos, curated news and event listings for Know Your Rights trainings and community support meetings. For workers like Leydy and so many others, these tools lead to tangible outcomes and benefits for domestic workers. 

For the GitLab Foundation, whose mission centers on economic opportunity through technology, Ask Aya represents an exciting proof of concept that AI, when developed with the communities it serves rather than for them, can be a tool for good and an instrument of worker power. 

The National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) works for the respect, recognition, and inclusion in labor protections of domestic and home care workers across the country. Learn more at domesticworkers.org and try Ask Aya through the NDWA Membership Center.