- In late 2021, ChatGPT creator OpenAI hired San Francisco-based Sama which paid workers in Kenya $2/hr to make ChatGPT less toxic.
- The Kenyan workers were responsible for training ChatGPT’s AI-powered safety mechanism by labelling pulled data as violent, hate speech and/or sexual abuse.
- While workers received salaries ($240/month) above local averages, some experienced trauma from constantly viewing graphic content.
- While the contract was lucrative (OpenAi paid $12.50/hr), Sama terminated the partnership in February 2022 claiming it hadn’t agreed to collect illegal content.
