The systems behind generative AI and major social platforms depend on people who do difficult, often invisible work. In an open letter to President Biden, 97 African workers who do AI training work or online content moderation for companies like Meta and OpenAI are asking the US to confront what they describe as exploitation by US tech companies.
The workers say contractors in countries such as Kenya help correct chatbots, label images, review online content, and train chatbot responses. Their argument is direct: the AI economy is being built partly on labor that is poorly paid, psychologically harmful, and too easy for large companies to distance themselves from.
What the workers are asking for
The open letter demands that US tech companies stop “systemically abusing and exploiting African workers.” Most of the signatories are from Kenya, which the source describes as a hub for tech outsourcing. The letter was published as Kenya’s president, William Ruto, is visiting the US this week.
The workers name companies including Meta, OpenAI, and data provider Scale AI. They allege that the practices around this work “amount to modern day slavery.” The companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The demands are not limited to pay. Wednesday’s letter asks Biden to make sure that US tech companies engage with overseas tech workers, follow local laws, and stop union-busting practices. It also suggests that tech companies “be held accountable in the US courts for their unlawful operations aboard, in particular for their human rights and labor violations.”
The work behind AI and content moderation
The workers describe a labor pipeline that sits behind both social media and generative-AI technology. Their work includes reviewing content on platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram. It also includes labeling images and training chatbot responses for companies like OpenAI.
According to the letter, a typical workday for African tech contractors can involve “watching murder and beheadings, child abuse and rape, pornography and bestiality, often for more than 8 hours a day.” The letter says pay is often less than $2 per hour.
The workers also say people frequently end up with post-traumatic stress disorder. The source notes that trauma among content moderators is a well-documented issue around the world.
This is why the dispute is larger than one company or one platform. Content moderation and AI training are often treated as background services, but the people doing that work may be exposed to the harshest material on the internet while receiving some of the lowest pay in the tech industry.
Remotasks and unpaid wages
In March, the letter and news reports say, Scale AI abruptly banned people based in Kenya, Nigeria, and Pakistan from working on Remotasks, Scale AI’s platform for contract work. The letter says those workers were cut off without notice and are “owed significant sums of unpaid wages.”
“When Remotasks shut down, it took our livelihoods out of our hands, the food out of our kitchens,” says Joan Kinyua, a member of the group of former Remotasks workers, in a statement to WIRED. “But Scale AI, the big company that ran the platform, gets away with it, because it’s based in San Francisco.”
That complaint captures one of the central tensions in outsourced AI labor. The work may happen in Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, or elsewhere, while the company structures and clients may be based in the US. The workers are asking Biden to treat that cross-border relationship as a US accountability issue, not simply a local labor dispute.
Organizing meets resistance
The letter comes just over a year after 150 workers formed the African Content Moderators Union, described in the source as the first content moderators union on the continent. The signatories are affiliated with that union and with a group founded by laid-off workers who previously trained AI technology for companies such as Scale AI.
Scale AI sells datasets and data-labeling services to clients including OpenAI, Meta, and the US military. The letter was published on the site of Foxglove, a UK-based activist group that promotes tech-worker unions and equitable tech.
Workers say that after the African Content Moderators Union was formed, Meta promptly laid off all of its nearly 300 Kenya-based content moderators, effectively busting the fledgling union. Meta is currently facing three lawsuits from more than 180 Kenyan workers. Those lawsuits demand more humane working conditions, freedom to organize, and payment of unpaid wages.
Tech contractors in Kenya have filed lawsuits in recent years alleging that tech-outsourcing companies and their US clients such as Meta have treated workers illegally. The open letter now places that fight in front of Biden, whose administration has described its labor policy approach as “worker-centered.” The workers argue that this approach has not reached them, saying “we are treated as disposable.”
Why the letter matters for the AI economy
The workers are not arguing against jobs in Kenya. They are arguing that AI training and content moderation should not depend on unsafe conditions, unpaid wages, or pressure against organizing.
“Everyone wants to see more jobs in Kenya,” Kauna Malgwi, a member of the African Content Moderators Union steering committee, says. “But not at any cost. All we are asking for is dignified, fairly paid work that is safe and secure.”
The letter’s message is simple: the future of AI is not only about models, platforms, and products. It is also about the people asked to process disturbing material, label data, and shape chatbot responses. The workers want those jobs to come with dignity, fair pay, safety, and legal accountability.