The Workers Behind #AI Rarely See Its Rewards. This Indian #Startup Wants to Fix That

source: https://time.com/6297403/the-workers-behind-ai-rarely-see-its-rewards-this-indian-startup-wants-to-fix-that/

Chopra isn’t the first tech founder to rhapsodize about the potential of #AI data #work to benefit the world’s poorest. Sama, an #outsourcing company that has handled contracts for #OpenAI’s #ChatGPT and #Meta’s #Facebook, also marketed itself as an “ethical” way for tech companies to lift people in the Global South out of #poverty. But as I reported in January, many of its ChatGPT workers in Kenya—some earning less than $2 per hour—told me they were exposed to training data that left them traumatized. The #company also performed similar content moderation work for Facebook; one worker on that project told me he was fired when he campaigned for better working conditions. When asked by the BBC about low wages in 2018, Sama’s late founder argued that paying workers higher #could disrupt local economies, causing more harm than good. Many of the data workers I’ve spoken to while reporting on this industry for the past 18 months have bristled at this logic, saying it’s a convenient narrative for companies that are getting rich off the proceeds of their labor.

Our prosperity is based on merciless exploitation. No new knowledge and new technologies do not change this.

#technology #economy #problem #health #news #capitalism #future