Outsourced Filipino AI workers exploited in ‘digital sweatshops’
CAGAYAN DE ORO, PHILIPPINES — More than two million Filipinos are reportedly engaged in “crowdwork” to feed data in artificial intelligence (AI) models.
According to a Washington Post article, most of these workers are involved in a “crucial but underpaid role” of data annotation, where they help distinguish between pedestrians and objects in videos or label images for tech giants.
Many work through Remotasks, owned by the $7 billion San Francisco startup Scale AI. The company collaborates with firms like Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI. Despite Scale AI’s claim of offering “living wage rates,” workers often earn far below the Philippines’ minimum wage of $6 to $10 per day.
Payments are frequently delayed, reduced, or withheld, with little recourse for workers.
On Remotasks’ internal messaging platform, notices about late or missing payments are common. “What it comes down to is a total absence of standards,” said Cheryll Soriano, a professor at De La Salle University in Manila.
Scale AI spokesperson Anna Franko insists that the pay system is “continually improving” and that payment delays are “exceedingly rare.” However, workers counter that attempts to resolve payment issues often lead to account deactivation.
A Fairwork report gave Remotasks a 1 out of 10 score, indicating the platform’s failure to meet minimum standards for fair pay and fair contracts. The issue of labor exploitation extends beyond the Philippines, with workers in countries like Kenya also experiencing reduced wages and bonuses after initially receiving relatively better pay.
Labor groups in the Philippines blame the government for not regulating platforms like Remotasks. However, some officials argued that stifling a new industry like AI could leave a negative impression on the country.
As the AI sector grows, so does labor exploitation in the Global South, sidestepping labor regulations. The debate around AI should consider technological ethics and human cost, as many researchers and rights groups call for better labor standards in the burgeoning industry.
