GoKawiilSign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Email address Sign Up Thank you!
In February, Meta contractors in Kenya told Swedish newspapers Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten that the company required them to review disturbing and sensitive footage captured by its Ray-Ban AI glasses.
Some reported seeing wearers naked or using the toilet. Another saw a man’s wife undressing in their bedroom, after he left the glasses on a table, the joint investigation found. Other footage they reviewed included entire “sex scenes.”
“You understand that it is someone’s private life you are looking at, but at the same time you are just expected to carry out the work,” one employee told the Swedish newspapers. “You are not supposed to question it. If you start asking questions, you are gone.”
It seems their hunch was correct.
Two months after the worker’s allegations were published in the newspapers, Meta responded in highly questionable fashion. It terminated its entire contract with the Kenyan company, Sama, the BBC reports — a decision that a Kenyan worker’s organization alleges was in retaliation to the workers speaking out.
Meta didn’t address that allegation, but told the BBC that it “decided to end our work with Sama because they don’t meet our standards,” while stressing that it took the worker’s claims “seriously.”
“Photos and videos are private to users,” a spokesperson said. “Humans review AI content to improve product performance, for which we get clear user consent.”
For its part, Sama defended its workers.
“Sama has consistently met the operational, security and quality standards required across our client engagements, including with Meta,” it said in a statement. “At no point were we notified of any failure to meet those standards, and we stand firmly behind the quality and integrity of our work.”
... continue reading