‘It’s destroyed me completely’: Kenyan moderators decry toll of training of AI models

Employees describe the psychological trauma of reading and viewing graphic content, low pay and abrupt dismissals

The images pop up in Mophat Okinyi's mind when he's alone, or when he's about to sleep.

Okinyi, a former content moderator for Open AI's ChatGPT in Nairobi, Kenya, is one of four people in that role who have filed a petition to the Kenyan government calling for an investigation into what they describe as exploitative conditions for contractors reviewing the content that powers artificial intelligence programs.