The reports reveal that many data workers are exposed to disturbing content and work under high-pressure conditions, leading to mental health and substance abuse issues. For example, Kenyan data workers for Sama, a company that presents itself as an ethical data work pipeline, reported unrelenting misery and lack of support. Similarly, a data annotator in Syria documented his frustrating work conditions in a short film. The project leaders plan to continue their work with a second cohort of data workers from Brazil, Finland, China, and India.
Key takeaways:
- The Data Workers’ Inquiry, a collaboration between AI ethics research group DAIR and TU Berlin, is shedding light on the often hidden labor of data work, such as moderation and annotation, which is often outsourced to poorer countries.
- These jobs, while not physically dangerous, can be psychologically damaging, with workers exposed to disturbing content and working under high pressure.
- The reports from the inquiry are anecdotal, focusing on the lived experiences of the workers, such as Kenyan data workers struggling with mental health and drug issues due to the nature of their work.
- The project plans to continue its work with a second cohort of data workers from Brazil, Finland, China, and India.