“We’re the unseen force behind AI:” African Tech Workers Rising speak out at AI Action Summit

At this week’s Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, African Tech Workers Rising is championing the rights of data supply chain workers from across the continent.

Organizer Sonia Kgomo, a former Facebook content moderator from Kenya, is at the global gathering of government officials, tech executives and civil society leaders to spotlight the crucial roles – and urgent needs – of content moderators, data labellers, AI trainers and others.

“We are an unseen force behind AI breakthroughs, and we’re on the front lines of keeping technology safe for our communities. Our voices are essential to creating a just digital era, and I am here at the summit to make sure they’re heard.”

The group’s demands focus on living wages, safe working conditions and union representation.

Backed by UNI Global Union, African Tech Workers Rising exposes the often-invisible labour behind AI, where workers regularly endure eight-to-ten-hour days of labelling data or moderating disturbing content at breakneck speed.

The organization is unique in brining the harsh realities at the heart of the AI supply chain to a summit that has largely focused on innovation and regulation. UNI General Secretary Christy Hoffman spoke from the summit’s main stage yesterday saying, “There is no AI for the public good without workers’ voices.”

For more information about African Tech Workers Rising visit their page.