However, the use of prison labor for AI training has raised concerns about exploitation and the potential for this type of work to be extended to more controversial types of data labeling, such as moderating violent content. Critics also question whether this type of work truly provides transferable skills for inmates after their release. Despite these concerns, Metroc is considering expanding the prison labor project to other countries as it expands across the Nordics.
Key takeaways:
- Finnish startup Metroc is using prison labor to train its AI model, with inmates reading and answering questions about real estate texts for €1.54 ($1.67) an hour.
- The company turned to prisons to find cheap, Finnish-speaking workers, as there are not many Finnish speakers in the global south where most AI training usually takes place.
- The prison system sees this as a way to prepare inmates for the digital world of work after their release, although critics question the transferability of these skills and the potential for exploitation.
- Metroc is considering expanding the prison labor project to other countries as it expands across the Nordics and into languages other than Finnish.