Data workers are exposing the severity of exploitation in the tech and AI industry through the Data Workers’ Inquiry. As part of the community-based research project, 15 data workers joined the Distributed AI Research (DAIR) Institute as community researchers to lead their own inquiry in their respective workplaces. Funded by the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research (DAIR) Institute, Weizenbaum Institute, and Technische Universität Berlin, the project sheds light on labor conditions and widespread practices in the AI industry. The Plight of African Content Moderators Fasica Berhane Gebrekidan, an ex-content moderator for
Big Tech companies are being probed about the treatment of their “ghost workers” by Democratic lawmakers. Ghost work refers to the undervalued, underpaid, and undersupported human labor utilized to develop and maintain the automation of websites and apps. This work is often outsourced, hidden, or rendered invisible by the tech companies who request it. With the rise of generative AI, this work often includes training and improving algorithms. According to Just Tech, ghost workers are usually vulnerable people from Asia, Latin America and Africa who are being paid less than
Kenyan content moderators who removed harmful content produced by OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT, have petitioned the country’s lawmakers to investigate the nature of their work. The petitioners are calling for an investigation into the “nature of the work, the conditions of the work, and the operations” of the Big Tech companies that outsource services in Kenya through companies like Sama. Sama has been hit with several litigations on alleged exploitation, union-busting, and illegal mass layoffs of content moderators. The workers are asking lawmakers to “regulate the outsourcing of harmful and dangerous
