AI projects like OpenAIs ChatGPT get some of their knowledge from some of the highest paid workers in the tech industry, contractors often in poor countries paid small sums to debug chatbots and tag images. On Wednesday, 97 African workers who do AI training work or moderate online content for companies like Meta and OpenAI published an open letter to President Biden, demanding that US tech companies stop the systematic abuse and exploitation of African workers.
Most of the signatories are from Kenya, a technology outsourcing hub whose president, William Ruto, is visiting the US this week. Activists claim the practices of companies such as Meta, OpenAI and data provider Scale AI are modern day slavery. The companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A typical workday for African tech contractors, the paper says, includes watching murders and beheadings, child abuse and rape, pornography and animals, often for more than 8 hours a day. The pay is often less than $2 an hour, he says, and workers often end up with post-traumatic stress disorder, a well-documented issue among content moderators around the world.
The letter’s signatories say their work includes reviewing content on platforms like Facebook, TikTok and Instagram, as well as tagging images and training chatbot responses for companies like OpenAI that are developing generative AI technology. The workers are affiliated with the African Union of Content Moderators, the first union of content moderators on the continent and a group founded by laid-off workers who previously trained AI technology for companies such as Scale AI, which sells datasets and data labeling services to clients including OpenAI, Meta, and the US military. The letter was published on the website of UK-based activist group Foxglove, which promotes tech worker unions and equal technology.
In March, the letter and news reports say that Scale AI suddenly banned people based in Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan from working on Retasks, Scale AI’s contract work platform. The letter states that these workers have been terminated without notice and are owed significant amounts of unpaid wages.
When Remotasks shut down, it took our livelihoods out of our hands, food out of our kitchens, Joan Kinyua, a member of the Remotasks ex-employee group, said in a statement to WIRED. But Scale AI, the big company that ran the platform, can’t because it’s based in San Francisco.
Although the Biden administration has often described its approach to labor policy as worker-centered. The African workers letter argues that this does not extend to them, saying that we are treated as disposable.
You have the power to stop our exploitation by American companies, clean up this work, and give us dignity and fair working conditions, the letter says. You can make sure there are good jobs for Kenyans too, not just for Americans.”
Tech contractors in Kenya have filed lawsuits in recent years alleging that outsourced tech companies and their American clients like Meta have treated workers illegally. Wednesday’s letter asks Biden to make sure US tech companies engage with overseas tech workers, comply with local laws and stop union-busting practices. It also suggests that tech companies be held accountable in US courts for their illegal onboarding operations, particularly for their human and labor rights violations.
The letter comes just over a year after 150 workers formed the Union of African Content Moderators. Meta immediately fired all 300 or so content moderators based in Kenya, the workers say, effectively destroying the fledgling union. The company is currently facing three lawsuits from more than 180 Kenyan workers, demanding more humane working conditions, freedom to organize and payment of unpaid wages.
Everyone wants to see more work in Kenya, says Kauna Malgwi, a member of the steering committee of the Union of African Content Moderators. But not by any means. All we ask for is a dignified, fairly paid, safe and secure job.
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Image Source : www.wired.com