https://preview.redd.it/4qzx88by9a7h1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=f97244f25b5217c057706d9a481f107f4aba3f54 The development of artificial intelligence and the functioning of its models depend on a global workforce, a large portion of which works in developing countries. According to current World Bank data, the number of people involved in data processing worldwide has grown from 150 million to 430 million. These employees perform image classification, text labeling, and algorithmic response evaluation, which are essential for the operation of tech giants’ products. Reports from international organizations note that this sector frequently uses outsourcing in regions with low economic development, where labor is cheap and social protection mechanisms are less developed. The system’s functioning is entirely detached from the illusion of technological autonomy. Representatives of research institutes point out that the scale of human labor is often deliberately hidden from the public to maintain the narrative of fully automated digital systems. According to data from the Finnish prison system, local inmates are also involved in similar work; their daily wage initially amounts to €3 and increases to €4.62 after two months. In independent reports, economists from international organizations confirm that the existence of models is impossible without populating data repositories. Omar Rani, a senior economist at the International Labour Organization, explained the operational principles of specialized platforms, noting that in spaces like Mindrift, users receive about $9 a day for completing 12 tasks. People living in India, Bulgaria, Kenya, and Venezuela process thousands of photos and videos daily, which is required to train autonomous driving systems and online store algorithms. Utilizing countries with a colonial past for labor platforms is a deliberate business strategy. Miloš Mišeli, a sociologist at the VITAM Institute, pointed out in his research that tech companies purposefully seek employees in regions with high unemployment rates. According to his assessment, the compensation is exactly the amount that allows people to survive only for the current day, ruling out the possibility of seeking alternative employment. Employees often have to sign strict contracts that include confidentiality clauses lasting over 10 years and provide for imprisonment in the event of information leaks. In addition to labor conditions, the psychological burden experienced by content moderators represents a serious issue. Fine Makira, a former moderator who worked for a Kenyan contractor company linked to OpenAI, confirmed that her team worked on filtering material where the rate of violence and exploitation stood at 99.9%. Identifying toxic information is essential for training models so that artificial intelligence does not generate similar texts or images itself in the future. Ana Valdivia, a researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute, drew attention to the second hidden side of technology, which is related to the consumption of natural resources. The production of servers and chips requires large amounts of copper, gold, cobalt, lithium, and tungsten, the extraction of which causes ecological damage to the environment. Cooling data centers and processing minerals require billions of liters of water and thousands of megawatts of electricity, yet the marketing of “cloud technology” on the market fully covers up this fact. The ethical crisis in the field is linked to ideologies popular in Silicon Valley, such as longtermism, which is part of the TESCREAL movement. Philosopher Émile Torres explained that this vision justifies current exploitation for the purpose of creating humanity’s multi-galactic civilization in the far future. Elon Musk confirmed the closeness of this philosophy to his own views in early interviews. This ideological approach considers current human losses to be a minor event compared to the well-being of the trillions of people who will live in the future. This approach explains why labor unions for employees are not permitted and why pressure is exerted on witnesses by Californian giants. James Muldoon, a professor at the University of Essex, noted that companies have sufficient capital for fair labor compensation, but they exploit market misinformation. In the next stage, tightening of working condition monitoring by international human rights organizations is expected; however, legal restrictions and the network of global contracts significantly hinder the regulation of this process. submitted by /u/andrewaltair
Originally posted by u/andrewaltair on r/ArtificialInteligence
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