I will admit that I have not done a lot of research into the topic and might be slightly biased as a Kenyan.
Edit: The tasks that are currently outsourced are data labelling NOT training of AI models.
This is just to ask whether anybody else is concerned about a tendency by major tech companies to outsource labour needs to the global south? The services outsourced are either training of AI models or for a longer period, content moderation of social media sites.
There are instances where this work is outsourced to countries such as Kenya or India. For reasons that I can only assume which include cheap labour, lax labour right enforcement and fewer regulatory restrictions in these countries. Similar to the reasons that guide the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs to the global south.
My general worry is that in future, the global south shall become the training ground for more harmful AI projects that would be prohibited within the Global North. Is this something that I and other people should be concerned about?
What you have stated is entirely true. However, there are also contentions that at least in Kenya, Meta violated Kenyan labour laws in its use of a content moderation firm. Meta tried to claim rather unsuccessfully that they shouldn't be bound by Kenyan laws since they aren't based in Kenya. This can be found here and here, I think it is slightly indicative that the use of outsourcing companies is an aim to limit their liability in jurisdictions outside of the US. The case hasn't been concluded since it has been sent to mediation. It is what raised this qu... (read more)