The hidden Kenyan workers training China’s AI models
The hidden Kenyan workers training China’s AI models
restofworld.org
The hidden Kenyan workers training China’s AI models
An unemployment crisis has created fertile ground for companies to step in with opaque systems built on WhatsApp groups, middlemen, and bargain-basement wages.
- 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.