🔍 Indian Women Have to Watch Hours of Violent Videos to Train AI

24-year-old Raina Singh, from the town of Bareilly in the Uttar Pradesh region, got a job labeling content for AI through a third-party firm contracted by global technology platforms.

At first, her job was to check short messages and flag spam and scam-like language. Six months later, the girl got transferred to a new project without notice—an adult entertainment platform where her task was to flag and remove content involving child sexual abuse.

The material was graphic and violent, Singh says, but her supervisor did not respond to her complaints.

"Your contract says data annotation—this is data annotation," he told her.

⚡️ Working with such content could be deeply traumatic, sociologists from the Data Workers' Inquiry project warn. Women who have to watch up to 800 videos a day depicting acts of sexual violence complain of "emotional numbness," sleep problems, and intimacy issues.

💰 Even so, employers force the data annotation workers to sign non-disclosure agreements and do not provide any psychological support. But for many women in rural India, a salary of €250-400 per month is pretty much the only chance to escape poverty.

Is this fair pay for such work?

🔥 — Yes, people choose such jobs themselves
🙈 — No, this is exploitation

@hiaimediaen