For avid tech gurus and social media users, you might have come across ChatGPT, an Artificial Intelligence-based extension that generates text from any genre within seconds.
The AI-based platform has essentially become an instant hit across the online fraternity, with many experts hailing it as the future of technology and subsequently a software to potentially replace content writers.
However, an investigation by Global Media House, Time, revealed that ChatGPT outsourced Kenyan workers, who earned less than Ksh250 an hour.
The workers were reportedly sourced from Sama- a content moderation company based in the USA that hires Kenyans, Ugandans and Indians to moderate content for top-tier online platforms such as Microsoft, Facebook and Google. Kenyans were needed to sift through the torrents of data sets manually on a nine-hour work shift.
"An agent working nine-hour shifts could expect to take home a total of at least Ksh160 ($1.32) per hour after tax, rising to as high as Ksh178 ($1.44) per hour if they exceeded all their targets," read part of the report.
On the other hand, Quality analysts, regarded as more senior labelers whose job was to monitor the agents' work could pocket Ksh250 ($2 per hour) after meeting all their targets.
Part of the work for the Kenyan workers also involved labeling 70 text passages within a shift - presenting a great employment opportunity.
Nonetheless, the report also exposed the perilous conditions that the Kenyans worked under.
"Despite the foundational role played by these data enrichment professionals, a growing body of research reveals the precarious working conditions these workers face,”
This, according to the report, involved classifying and filtering harmful content which includes sifting through hours of toxic multi-media content and labeling them.
The nature of the work ultimately led Sama to terminate its contract with OpenAI, ChatGPT's creator. Recently, Sama also announced the end of its partnership with Meta- and hence let go of over 200 employees.
