The hidden Kenyan workers training China’s AI models
- Chinese AI companies are quietly tapping into Kenya’s young workforce, hiring students and recent graduates to label thousands of videos a day.
- The work is done through opaque networks of middlemen and WhatsApp groups that operate like digital factory floors.
- Kenya’s weak labor protections and soaring youth unemployment have made it a hot spot for cheap AI labor, prompting officials and unions to warn of a new form of digital colonialism as the government rushes to draft regulations.
HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
This is exactly what American companies are doing though. AI is basically built on the back of slave wages
Deceptichum@quokk.au 3 weeks ago
Of course, it’s not a good thing if anyone does it.
And isn’t everything? We rely on the most exploited at the lowest levels to provide our raw resources. The whole global system is fucked.
HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
True that brother. I make way less than what I should be making. in the summer when I’m whored out I make $40 base. Rest of the year or internal work I’m making $26
i can go independent and charge $120+ an hour but it’s hard to get clients when the two big players will purposely go out of their way to fuck you over.