Toloka gig workers train AIs

“Over two months I came away with about $7,” says Laura. “I have a full-time job, so I thought this would be a good way to make extra money. It wasn’t worth it.”


Essentially, by signing up to Toloka and completing available tasks, gig workers were —without their knowledge or explicit consent —bolstering an authoritarian regime’s efforts to repress dissent.

Five past and present African freelancers on Toloka, speaking to The Continent on condition of anonymity, confirmed that they did not know what their work was being used for. Some were shocked by the revelation that their work could be linked to Russian surveillance of protesters.

“We were just given the tasks from the ‘clients’, ” says Laura from South Africa. “We weren’t told who the clients were or why they needed it done.”

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