Karya's model is unique in that it gives workers de-facto ownership of the data they create, meaning they receive proceeds whenever it is resold. The company is a nonprofit and funnels its profits towards the rural poor in India. However, the company's growth is limited by the amount of available work, and it needs to win more clients to have the impact its founders believe it can. The company has so far distributed $116,000 in royalties to around 4,000 workers.
Key takeaways:
- Karya, a nonprofit launched in 2021 in Bengaluru, India, is helping rural Indians earn money by reading text aloud in their native languages for AI training data. The organization pays an hourly wage of about $5, nearly 20 times the Indian minimum wage.
- The demand for datasets in languages spoken by some of the poorest people in the world has increased due to the boom in artificial intelligence. This has created an opportunity for hundreds of millions of Indians to monetize their mother tongue.
- Karya's model is unique in the industry as it gives workers de-facto ownership of the data they create on the job, so whenever it is resold, the workers receive the proceeds on top of their past wages.
- Karya's goal is to reach 100 million people by 2030. However, the organization's expansion is limited by the amount of available work, not by the number of potential workers. Therefore, Karya needs to win more clients to have a significant impact.