Rural Kenyans Fuel Silicon Valley's AI Boom for Pennies
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Rural Kenyans, like Caroline Njau, are doing low-paid "annotation" work labeling data to train AI systems for Silicon Valley companies. They get paid as little as $2 per hour.
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Kenya has emerged as a hub for online annotation work, with over 1.2 million Kenyans working informally in the digital economy. The work is spreading from cities to rural areas.
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Young Kenyans like Kennedy Cheruyot turn to annotation work because of high unemployment and rising living costs. Though the pay is low, it helps them get by.
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Caroline Njau sees annotation work as a gateway to advance in technology and become a data scientist. The Kenyan government aims to support more locals working with AI.
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There is optimism that Kenya can become an AI innovation hub, but education systems may need to change to support multidisciplinary skills needed for AI.