Target: Armughan Ahmad, CEO of Appen Limited
Goal: Provide gig workers with better pay and less daunting working conditions.
It’s being called digital slave labor. And as artificial intelligence (AI) continues its rapid rise, AI data training micro-gigs will continue to deprive human beings—primarily from already-disadvantaged economies—of a living wage. At their “peak,” these workers make about a dollar an hour. And many times, they only make a dollar a day.
Micro-gig companies help train AI platforms with the aid of these workers who desperately peruse job postings in order to secure jobs that can take them several hours to complete with little return on their time. And to make an amount of money that falls below the minimum wage of the most impoverished countries, they complete these tasks for as long as 15 hours a day. The companies behind these “jobs” are exploiting workers while reaping the lion’s share profits.
Sign the petition below to demand one of the most notorious offenders reshape its grueling approach.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Mr. Ahmad,
When you were appointed as Appen’s newest CEO, you boasted about the nearly half a billion dollars in revenue the company had accumulated. You also talked at length about accelerating the development of “an ethical, trusted AI for good” that will make “a positive and sustainable impact on the world.” Unfortunately, this organization’s work philosophy undermines it’s stated mission at every turn.
Your employees are receiving none of the benefits of your burgeoning enterprise. You are handing out literal change from your flowing coffers while your workers—desperate for any wage—fight and claw for the meager leftovers. One of your AI data training micro-gig workers described conditions on the platform as follows: “one needs to work five or six hours to complete what effectively amounts to an hour of real-time work, all to earn $2. In my point of view, it is digital slavery.” This individual speaks for a growing chorus of human beings who want to be part of this better future of which you speak but who do not want to sacrifice their dignity or basic needs.
Do better for the people who are making this company’s dreams possible. Empower your workers with a real living wage that gives them the respect they deserve.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Maria Thalassino
220 Signatures