Kenyan Data Annotators Reported Psychological Trauma from Labeling Graphic Text for ChatGPT Safety Systems
Description
Sama data annotators in Nairobi, Kenya, reported lasting psychological trauma after labeling graphic sexual and violent text for OpenAI's content-moderation classifiers used in ChatGPT. Workers alleged low pay and inadequate psychological support; Sama disputed aspects of those accounts. The contract ended early, and former workers later petitioned Kenya's Parliament for stronger protections.
Actors
Alleged Deployers
- openai
- sama
Alleged Developers
- openai
- large-language-model-developers
- chatbot-developers
Harmed Parties
- sama
- employees-of-sama
- data-annotators
- sama-data-annotators-in-kenya
Classification
Risk Domain
Socioeconomic & EnvironmentalRisk Subdomain
6.2. Increased inequality and decline in employment quality
MIT Risk Profile
Topics
Source
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