In a major milestone for contracted tech labor, more than 150 African content moderators have banded together to form their own union to demand better wages, protection and employment conditions. The African Content Moderators Union is made up of current and former employees of third-party moderation organizations that supply companies like Facebook, TikTok and OpenAI.
Moderating content is one of the most necessary – but also one of the most risky and demanding – jobs in the tech industry. Moderators face many threats like graphic and traumatizing content which can have negative impacts on their mental health. Many former Sama employees reported earning less than $2 per day whilst providing training data for OpenAI.
In addition, firms like Facebook were found to compensate their moderators far less than their highly paid engineers, highlighting the need to level the playing field in terms of wages and conditions. Moderators such as Richard Mathenge, a former ChatGPT content moderator, viewed their role as of equal importance compared to other tech professionals.
“For too long we, the workers powering the AI revolution, were treated as different and less than moderators,” Mathenge said. “Our work is just as important and it is also dangerous. We took a historic step today. The way is long but we are determined to fight on so that people are not abused the way we were.”
The indigenous African Content Moderators Union has voiced their intent to demand healthier work conditions of their employers. Such as giving moderators better wages and providing mental health resources to help them cope with their difficult jobs.
Non-profits such as Foxglove have been in support with the move of African Content Moderators Union, with co-director Martha Dark citing it as a significant step forward towards tackling the systemic issues of the industry.
“It takes a village to solve a problem, but today the Kenyan moderators formed an army,” Dark said. “From TikTok to Facebook, these people face the same issues. Toxic content, no mental health care, precarious work — these are systemic failures in content moderation.”
OpenAI is a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence company that develops AI technologies for a range of uses from medical diagnostics to education and development. Their initiatives focus on democratizing AI and presenting its benefits to the wider community. This latest move from the African Content Moderators Union highlights the need for tech organizations to step up and implement better working conditions for the people who power their AI systems.
