The "Modern Day Slaves" Of The AI Tech World

In 2027, virtual assistants like Sarah seamlessly handle our daily tasks, making life appear effortless. But behind this technological marvel lies a hidden reality. This documentary unveils the untold story of the ghost workers who power our digital world, performing the tedious and often traumatic tasks that machines can't handle.
Meet the invisible workforce behind tech giants like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Uber. These underpaid and disposable workers label images, moderate content, and train AI systems, often earning less than minimum wage. Their work is essential yet remains in the shadows, unacknowledged by the companies that depend on them.
00:00 - Introduction: The Illusion of Effortless AI
02:15 - The Hidden Workforce: Who Are the Ghost Workers?
05:30 - Undercover: Life as a Content Moderator
09:45 - AI Training: The Tedious Tasks Behind Smart Machines
13:20 - The Psychological Toll: PTSD and Stress Among Moderators
17:00 - The Future of Work: What Lies Ahead for These Workers?
Instagram - @realstoriesdocs
Content licensed from Java Films. Any queries, please contact us at: [e-mail]

[@samarthpandey683]

The threat is not AI, it’s how humans treat other humans.

[@threadbearr8866]

Yeah it's the economic system that rewards using cheap labor. Now if there wasn't one private owner of a business we wouldn't see as much desperation. If workplaces were owned by the people who work there the people would have enough power to set boundaries.

[@reverendbluejeans1748]

Not a threat, they are not forced to take the job. The loving government forces your to pay for their services

[@CarlosJuarez-eb5gx]

The worriying part is people doing this comments that sound like a teenager trying to be profound and people liking it

[@jessicamariabelmes1622]

PLS WATCH THE DANGERS OF AI TO HUMANITY

[@samarthpandey683]

@@CarlosJuarez-eb5gx and you have nothing more than an ad hominem argument to offer, very profound!

[@kristianlavigne8270]

Slavery was never abolished, it was just normalised as debt and wage slavery…

[@JimMilton1]

Poetic, but false.

[@giovannigiorni5814]

Yeah sure

[@maxvoitech]

@@JimMilton1 is it tho? All Roman cities were similar. In the central area was the Forum, the Temples of the gods and the market, not far from the Theater, the Gladiator Arena and, of course, the Public Baths. Some of them, like the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, were immense, true cathedrals. The Roman public baths had heated floors, abundant running water and three rooms (Caldarium, Tepidarium and Frigidarium). Below the floor was a hellish labyrinth in which slaves stoked the fires in the boilers, controlled the temperature, and maintained the pipes to ensure a supply of hot and warm water, as well as underfloor heating. When Rome fell and the other Roman cities were sacked by barbarians, almost all of these Thermae were completely destroyed. They were hated by the slaves who worked in them, because they symbolized the opulence and oppression of a civilization that extracted maximum luxury and comfort from the misery of those forced to work in inhumane conditions under the floor of the Thermae. Nowadays, the work of Big Tech's algorithmized slaves is the equivalent of the work of Roman slaves in Thermae, and it is this rotten and disgusting reality beneath the surface of our society that this video shows. Sp . . . ?

[@Bilangumus]

Exactly. Capitalism is slavery.

[@anismatar]

@@JimMilton1 think again in slavery you had to feed, shelter and clothe slaves. Now you throw few pennies and thats it.

[@gab882]

How these people in charge of these companies sleep at night is beyond me. They are psychopaths

[@dragossasr]

As Charlie Chapplin said in Great Dictator "greed has poisoned human hearts"

[@justmeagain7]

Psychopaths are often successful in business. I am not saying he is one, but he looks very satisfied with himself while talking about paying almost nothing and disposing of workers as if they were trash. A regular person would feel terrible about the workers. A psychopath would probably feel the opposite: very proud of himself for creating such a "wonderful" system of exploitation.

[@nicktw8688]

As psychopaths….they are not burdened by normal morality, guilt, shame ect….

[@completelytransparent6320]

@@justmeagain7this is one of the easiest cases of identification of a pycho ive seen

[@JPCommenting]

Well, how else is the internet supposed to be monitored? There has to be someone to train the algorithms, it does not train itself.. yet. Also, as for pay, most companies won't pay good money unless they absolutely need your contribution, if someone in the phillipines is willing to do this for 3 cents the hour, then that is the new pay bar. They are contractors, so they agreed to get paid that amount.

[@AlmirAlvesPereira]

It was amazing to see the Figure Eight founder demeanor changing when he realizes what the interview was really about. He is exploiting people and he knows it!

[@FASELverschiebung]

yes.

[@shellderp]

if people are dumb enough to give away their time for pennies, that's on them

[@JiminyCrickets]

@@shellderp If a system is setup so that you have very few options to begin with then its just you who is dumb here.

[@arcan762]

@@JiminyCrickets Could go work in the fields picking vegetables, but that is considered immigrant work. 😅

[@JiminyCrickets]

@@arcan762 Do you have a point or are you just hating on poor people because youre bored?

[@americo9999]

I'm not sure what is worse: moderators cleaning up garbage from social media for pennies, or people committing acts against humanity and posting it on social media for views, and people actually watching it. I cannot understand human behavior.

[@cl-7832]

@@americo9999 it's called sin.

[@eude-liamba]

@@cl-7832 no, it's called capitalism

[@Izack]

no, it's human biology

[@nickb220]

Best part is both are happening at the same time!

[@jonasbaine3538]

@@americo9999 people are bored and living without purpose

[@RobinSpeer]

Those FB moderators having to see that garbage for pennies a day and end up with PTSD. Those people have to endure the worst of humanity.😢

[@hate.doublespeak991]

They are being paid to develop mental problems! It couldn't be otherwise

[@Slup10000]

They don’t „have“ to. Their minds and their environment and situations simply makes it more difficult them to pursue other options.

[@OneAdam12Adam]

Nobody is forcing then. If they're that foolish we are doomed.

[@tintincruz8660]

​@@OneAdam12AdamYes they are! I got offered that job once when I was at the lowest point of my life. Broke and in debt. Didn't finished college due to lack of money. Poverty is not a f*cking choice. For some that is their only option There is a saying here, "kapit patalim". It means hold on to whatever nails just to survive. You're an american. Of course your privileged butt doesn't know anything about enduring whatever nasty jobs there is to survive. The only reason these minimum wage jobs exist is because you people are too spoiled to take it.

[@Chasear89]

No, they willingly accept pennies for the task of viewing content that could cost their employer money and legal issues. If I had to guess, I would say all the secrecy is because the content is just flagged, viewed, and removed keeping the company as far removed as possible. The end. The people in the content, those are the people who have to endure the worst of humanity...not the people who are willing to scrub it from the site before anyone sees, for a little change. If it is "PTSD" inducing, why are they still viewing and removing instead of shouting from the rooftops the names of the people who are uploading the content? That terrible thing they had to watch, was worse for the person it happened to who may have to endure it again, but yeah, let's just make sure it's not a FB problem.

[@fabiodeoliveiraribeiro1602]

All Roman cities were similar. In the central area was the Forum, the Temples of the gods and the market, not far from the Theater, the Gladiator Arena and, of course, the Public Baths. Some of them, like the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, were immense, true cathedrals. The Roman public baths had heated floors, abundant running water and three rooms (Caldarium, Tepidarium and Frigidarium). Below the floor was a hellish labyrinth in which slaves stoked the fires in the boilers, controlled the temperature, and maintained the pipes to ensure a supply of hot and warm water, as well as underfloor heating. When Rome fell and the other Roman cities were sacked by barbarians, almost all of these Thermae were completely destroyed. They were hated by the slaves who worked in them, because they symbolized the opulence and oppression of a civilization that extracted maximum luxury and comfort from the misery of those forced to work in inhumane conditions under the floor of the Thermae. Nowadays, the work of Big Tech's algorithmized slaves is the equivalent of the work of Roman slaves in Thermae, and it is this rotten and disgusting reality beneath the surface of our society that this video shows. Is there any doubt about this?

[@SBecktacular]

Very interesting analogy 👌

[@alexcarter8807]

I work in tech and make $20k a year. I'm working on leaving the US, and when I retire I'll be very happy if I never touch a transistor or 'scope probe again. I use a flip phone, and get by computer-wise by buying used laptops and using them until they die. I hate tech.

[@CosmosWorld]

Yeah, the thing is that it's not new. It's been there for thousands of years, but in different forms.

[@user-sp1md5xu8j]

You have no understanding of history and modernization.

[@needforcarbs]

And yet it's not Romans but another group of people that are called 'barbarians' in history books

[@MK86-channel]

The way this Biewald guy talks about his 'contractors' at the entrepreneur meeting is so callous and dehumanizing. It really sent a chill down my spine.

[@justmeagain7]

@MK86-channel it already came back to bite his butt with this documentary. I hope it will soon come back again, but in a much harder way. Psychopaths are often successful in business. I am not saying he is one, but he looks very satisfied with himself while talking about paying almost nothing and disposing of workers as if they were trash.

[@nicolajandersen8826]

​@@justmeagain7 I don't even think he's a psychopath. It's pretty obvious from the way he acts that he knows he's doing something bad and it's making him uncomfortable. He's just choosing to ignore it for profit.

[@OmarFW]

@@nicolajandersen8826 A psychopath can know that something is bad based on how society views that thing, rather than their own emotions or conscience. They frequently pretend to be moral individuals because they know their goals will be harder to achieve if society condemns their absence of ethics. Anyone with a functioning sense of ethics would not choose to exploit other people this way.

[@ginaiosef]

And for these last 2 comments, my friends, this is how sociopaths function.

[@ginaiosef]

​@justmeagain7 One of the 3 guys in charge of Nestea (and the rest of what one finds in supermarkets) was revolted, when acused, about the people's idea that water should be for free! Who says water should be for free? There is a youtube video about their history. The world is ruled by mentally disturbed people.

[@ticoguy05]

To say that people in 3rd world countries should/can survive with such low pay is why the world is so upside-down. I am from a third-world country and only those living in poverty have these salaries.

[@SlackersIndustry]

Only 5th world people can live on that 😆

[@danityvanityinsanity]

By design I’m sure.

[@dieglhix]

I am a third worlder and working in IT for richer countries. I am very wealthy now.

[@SlackersIndustry]

@@dieglhix when you work in 1st world and spend in third world yes you are rich so it seems

[@RobertDrane]

Letting goods travel frictionless made the world vastly more unequal and letting labor travel frictionless (while people are still bound by borders) is going to make things so much worse.

[@msylvini]

I'm sorry but as a person living in Africa, I don't understand how these people are surviving on these wages. For 8 hours/day this is absolutely criminal considering the cost of your ISP. Might as well sell baked goods and go knocking door to door. Your efforts will yield much better profits.

[@LilyGazou]

I mow lawns because teenagers don’t do that anymore.

[@omgbuffy2276]

They do it there too. The big tech companies are outsourcing this in Kenya and other African countries. Same results and traumatization of the workers.

[@clray123]

I think the documentary is bs. No sane person is going to work for 30 cents per hour if they can earn more flipping burgers or collecting trash. Maybe they do it for personal entertainment or as a hobby, but you can't call that work.

[@nicktw8688]

That’s why the middle class in all developed economies is shrinking. Actually, pretty much the only place on the planet where there is a growing middle class is Africa. Of course, wealth disparity is growing everywhere.

[@clray123]

@@nicktw8688 Wealth disparity is growing because we are running out of natural resources while the population keeps increasing. As a result, there is paper money but production is stagnating. If the "rich" wanted to spend all their wealth to obtain actual (non-virtual) goods, they would soon find out that they are not that rich anymore (and cause a massive inflation in the process). In other words, everyone, including the rich, is getting poorer in real terms, but the non-rich get to feel it first. Meanwhile we only keep increasing budgets for the destruction of real wealth, e.g. military and war.

[@zS39SBT4fe5Zp8Q]

For anyone wondering, Figure Eight was acquired for $300,000,000 in 2019.

[@louisefleming3117]

by whom?

[@buuh7592]

@@louisefleming3117 APPEN

[@1AEGIS]

efbiai open up

[@missinglink2416]

Appen bought them for $300m

[@stevengill1736]

A third of a billion....wow.

[@JuliannaParadis]

My former employer was working furiously to replace workers with AI. They spent immense energy on trying to brainwash us that they were treating us well rather than actually treating us well. They did not pay a livable wage here in the US and I shudder to think how they treated their overseas employees. Thinking of starting a podcast to discuss these labor issues. Would anyone listen?

[@Aera223]

@@JuliannaParadis yep, it would be interesting :)

[@epistomolokko]

Definitely..

[@YashoShasho]

Yes, people need to know. I don’t think most people realize this is taking place.

[@mischievousgamer8747]

You'd be speaking about a major pain point for a lot of Americans right now. That'd likely get a good bit of traction

[@the_bucketlisters]

Yes

[@user-yg1dg6xm2g]

Figure Eight likely had a job opening for a new P.R. spokesperson shortly after this interview concluded.

[@amrendrasingh7140]

@@user-yg1dg6xm2g 🤣🤣

[@zS39SBT4fe5Zp8Q]

They outsourced it to a figure eight trained ai

[@daviddad7388]

DEI

[@emayzd]

I thought the same 😂

[@veryslyfox]

I immediately knew he and the CEO are noobs. The major companies like Amazon will tightly control media interviews for this reason. The reporter must use the company's own video equipment, and the company will keep the recording and send the edited video to you.

[@Venn922]

IRONY: Guy makes 15 cents for 30 mins of work. Roughly 7 cents would have been spent on the electricity required to make it. Then says: "I do it for alittle extra money on the side"

[@hansdaimler865]

Funny how he immediately leaves. This guys should be put on court for offering such conditions

[@MasterScorpion]

there is the problem - its an offer ... when you take it - well ...

[@tomizatko3138]

@@MasterScorpion By law you must adhere to minimal decency of human being and even when the occupant is willing can't offer and unfair and damaging offer.

[@MasterScorpion]

@@tomizatko3138 which law? - you know where this is going right? ;)

[@MasterScorpion]

@@ZebeddiDooDah inhuman - how? harm - how? its a crime to sign a contract no one forced you to?

[@liam9519]

@@MasterScorpion you should google this thing called "Labor Laws" lol

[@leeris19]

I am a 3rdyear college student specializing in machine learning I never envisioned AI to be used like this... AI should be for making our lives better, like predicting disasters or combatting diseases. I love Machine learning for how beautiful its underlying mathematics is, and I thank you for opening my eyes to this side of it. I appreciate everyone who made this video possible!

[@AnilKumarnn]

Sapolskys lectures are free on youtube. It is human nature. It is evolution. There is no free will. Don't beat yourself up. You did not choose these incentive structures. You were born into it.

[@ginaiosef]

All corporations work like this

[@TotalDec]

How does one pay for Internet service off 30¢ an hour, much less live?

[@TotalDec]

How does one pay for Internet service off 30¢ an hour, much less live?

[@enduringwave87]

Now since you have learned the dark truth behind this field, Now quit your degree and find some other domain.. !!!! @leeris19

[@Lolleka]

This dehumanising dystopia is sickening.

[@LazyDotDev]

What's the alternative?

[@kimsunku07]

@@LazyDotDev North korea?

[@bakeraus]

@@LazyDotDev Pay a decent wage, these companies aren't poor.

[@catpowerro1110]

@@bakeraus nobody is forcing people to accept 30 cents/hr. Supply and demand.

[@bakeraus]

@@catpowerro1110 Of course not but laws, unions and regulations are there to protect people from exploitation. The same reason they are there to protect workers from unsafe work places. You need a standard or companies just f people.

[@KungFuChess]

It would cost you more to turn on the computer than you would make in an hour

[@mariawilleke14]

Exactly what I thought

[@ManMan-cl1gg]

Electricity charges and cost of buying a computer, plus the food you eat during that time frame

[@ArthursHD]

3$ an hour for Bangladesh is much more liveable than in the USA. My setup costs around 0.11€ to run per hour. So at the lower end, workers would need to run a Mini PC or a Laptop to break even 🥲

[@clray123]

From what it seems the US people they interviewed have mental problems. They live off social benefits and the "work" is there to keep them occupied.

[@dvoiceotruth]

Especially Apple devices which were all it were shown. I was wondering the same thing. Go love your apple and be robbed at the same time. This is also the reason why 'microtasks' have to be perfomed by someone else in the first place.

[@rizalconsulting]

Why everytimes I see video like this, it reminds me of Black Mirror

[@LilyGazou]

Because it iS black mirror.

[@zS39SBT4fe5Zp8Q]

Black Mirror got nothing on reality

[@rafastaszak5028]

More a 'Thought Police' from Orwells '1984' but for a pittance...

[@benderthefourth3445]

30 cents for an hour of a human being's time. Words escape me and will never return.

[@Post_Oak_]

“We can find someone else to talk about this stuff” 😂 he was crapping his pants

[@Marqan]

Narrator: *They didn't find anyone else to talk about this stuff*

[@Alabamaliberal]

Around the midpoint when they start to ask questions about labor and wages, and the "genius tech CEO" literally just says "yeah, I don't wanna do this anymore..." and practically walks off...What kind-of boss is this? And then even his PR flunky is like "oh, I actually have to get to a meeting as well," even though he clearly had all the time in the world a minute before. That NO ONE at a prominent tech firm can answer even basic questions about labor without just saying "yeah, I'm not doing this," perhaps shows their attitude.

[@thomasm1964]

It must cost more in energy running costs than you can possibly get back.

[@nataliep501]

THIS

[@tEqUiko]

Energy free energy

[@mateuszdrab]

Came here to say this

[@SanketPardeshi]

I had an similar job as an "Data Analyst" where I indirectly worked for Google where we had to review Google Ads & KZbin videos. There were many different types of tasks but mainly it were related the Google Adsense like if the google search keyboard matches the google ad OR where to place the ad in a YT video, for example. I got paid around 18000 Rs. a month (around 200-215$) which is common in my country for an entry level fresher job with no skill requirement. The work was boring and repetitive. Each day I felt like I was dumbing down. Also I was told it's a Data Analyst job but I found out that I'm reviewing ads after I joined. I left that job and currently working as a Software Dev. This job has put my career back by like 2 years and I have been catching up since.

[@1AEGIS]

u make more by reuploading tiktok vids, ppl should try this

[@deotekel]

@@1AEGIS I'm interested in this tiktok video thing. Kindly guide me on how to do these jobs.

[@1AEGIS]

@@deotekel see if tiktok monetization is available in ur country, then reupload there 15 seconds of yt vids. Tiktok monetization isn't available for u? then reupload random tiktok videos on yt. its up to you what niche. with time you also will start to become creative and edit those videos. like i did on my channel, but here all is my content

[@deotekel]

@@1AEGIS thanks for this info :)

[@turkyturky6274]

When you do captcha, you are training Ai for free😮

[@OfficialCANVAS]

We western people get paid less than those africans and indians 😮

[@maytay31]

@@turkyturky6274 🥲😟😳im shocked

[@seanybyne1982]

@turkyturky6274 wow! That's so true

[@jbird4478]

Yes, but that applies to basically anything you do online. How fast do you scroll through a page, which links do you click, what ads does your mouse hover on, how fast do you click skip ad, etc, etc. All of that is data for AIs nowadays. And that's not even mentioning the actual work that goes into sites like Wikipedia, code on Github, or art that is published online and gobbled up by data crawlers. Image generators work thanks to the works of thousands of artists who publish work (for sale normally) online. Code generators work thanks to the millions of lines of open source code published online. The AI industry not only has complete disregard for labor conditions, but also has a complete disregard for privacy and copyright.

[@unprofound]

The guy in invented captcha also started Duolingo. Pretty interesting person. The inventors can never be sure how their technology will be used.

[@anandsharma7430]

The social media cleanup job is exactly the horror shown in A Clockwork Orange. This is now an industry! Good God.

[@agritech802]

@@anandsharma7430 yes it shows how messed up social media is with little or no regulation

[@ozzyosbourne6]

It's something like surfing on the darkweb.

[@nicktw8688]

Or the Movie, Brazil.

[@anandsharma7430]

@@mrpmj00 Yes, there is glut of minimum wage jobs everywhere. (sarcasm)

[@jermainemyrn19]

The system runs on the back of the 99% poor people, but hates them at the same time.

[@arbitrary_username]

That’s why they´re barely kept alive but unable to change their highly dependent situation.

[@gorongo4202]

@@jermainemyrn19 Since time immemorial.

[@jermainemyrn19]

@@arbitrary_username that's Exactly why

[@jermainemyrn19]

@@gorongo4202 it's crazy watching how most people don't see it

[@lowruna]

For every CEO profile on Linkedin & Co. there are hidden slaves in the world involved to keep up the title... either directly or through conctrator firms...

[@JE4-1]

This is how our economic system works, everything is running on the backs of the poor who are doing all of the work.

[@ticoguy05]

Amazon can tell you more about that.

[@dirtychinchilla]

That’s not quite right. It implies that those who are better off do nothing. I fully agree that those at the bottom are paid disproportionately little and those at the top paid disproportionately too much.

[@juandelacruz1520]

@@JE4-1 I'm hoping that one day this people who exploited the poor and weak will suffer far more than the people whom they exploited...

[@luizmonad777]

@@juandelacruz1520 that's not how it happens, because you're also the one exploiting others as you buy the products for cheap, everyone wants the cheap option, that's how the world works. if you don't do it, others will

[@treytrey6011]

Yes America! Isn't it the greatest. We're #1. No one creates Ulta wealthy people like we do.

[@hedvigbaumga3013]

My coffee got cold... Haha,but that 10 cent barely came out. 😂

[@dvoiceotruth]

Good catch

[@Zed1987X]

This story is close to me. I work as chat moderator for six years. AI tech is in the corner and my salary even decreased. What five years ago payed me 800-900 dollars now pays 300 or less and I work more to maintain the level of work and do everything properly. I saw the worst of humanity on sexual levels. The harsh reality is that the job I do for 6 cents I know somebody does the same in the Philippines for 3 or less. 50 dollars is different value in the US and in low-income 3rd world countries. These companies find legal loopholes to do things still in the legal way but more close to slavery in front of the monitor for 8-12 hours a day.

[@LazyDotDev]

You should have taken the resources from the job to improve your skills. Did you think that job was going to pay the same rate for 20 years? I'm honestly confused as to what people are thinking when they go to work, that X job will pay Y rate for a century?

[@Zed1987X]

@@LazyDotDev Thank you for your comment but sometimes when you are in a situation to survive you take all kinds of jobs. And you don't know or understand my circumstances and in this case other click-workers. When it is about what you eat at the end of the day or what languages you speak what matters? Sometimes you CAN NOT find other jobs. So there is a choice between this or something even worse. What would you choose? You would let your kid go to school with no shoes? Have you ever been in the Phillipoines? Eastern Europe? India? Until you not face extreme poverty I don't think your comment makes sense without knowing the full picture.

[@zion495]

Are there others in your country who have been able to level up? I also come from a 3rd world country working in IT where I made about $50 a month. I was able to escape that condition by making sacrifices. Spending about an hour a day or on the weekends learning new skills. Now I make over 100x more because I was able to upskill. It’s not easy when you’re in this situation but it’s very possible

[@JuliannaParadis]

@@LazyDotDevThis blaming the victim mentality has got to go. It’s not 1955 anymore.

[@KadaverKomplex]

Clean it up, jannie!

[@OfficialDanishKhanLodhi]

Figure Eight recently rebranded their name to Appen Global lol

[@OneAdam12Adam]

Another problem. They're allowed to keep changing their names to hide their evil. The corporate way.

[@talhaqayyum5923]

@@OfficialDanishKhanLodhi it was acquired by appen.Trying their best to hide by removing everything on internet and coming up with new name.

[@hhhhhh-vj2uc]

No, they were bought by appen for 300 million

[@zS39SBT4fe5Zp8Q]

Yay capitalism

[@Userf384gw]

​@@zS39SBT4fe5Zp8QThe people in the first world aren't even happy. Damn

[@felicianothorpe8998]

I can see now why the tech world has so much lay offs.This is a humble eye opener.

[@user-yg1dg6xm2g]

Videos of murders get deleted and not reported to police? Seriously?

[@grzegorzsenetra5164]

Calling french police - "hello, i saw this video of muslims decapitating young boy, at the middle of nowhere, please arrest them"

[@1AEGIS]

because there is no real police in those lands where the video was recorded, best thing people can do is spread the word and hope someone else with power comes do the help

[@grzegorzsenetra5164]

@@1AEGIS Those videos of murderers are flagged by those people that you see in video, that flags exist in facebook database, then there is machine learning process that creates neurons web from those flags and there is no more people included in process. Now facebook can do what you are talking about with that data (call police), its their data, they can talk to police and goverments to share that data for decent amount of money, or do it for free.

[@mossy_brickens]

People spread others' videos of that sort, it's not necessarily the author of the video who posts. Because they support what's happening in the video or it's their fetish or they just do to their mind something comparable to self-harm - try to feel at least something. Plus, there are governmental agencies that watch what's going on in media already, they have their own traumatized workers for this.

[@vtop1c]

Most of those videos are probably put up (or shared) by random people who don't even know the creator. The ones that are ESPECIALLY extreme often spread through private groups in encrypted apps (like telegram). And even if the actual "creator" was dumb enough to post it themselves, I doubt that they'll actually put up accurate info about their location or identity next to a gore/murder video... Also, many of the moderators are outsourced workers in distant countries anyways.

[@apricotcomputers7915]

please, please, please do a doc. on the gamification of employment and how people are treated like players in a video game to get rewards, etc...and the dark side of how big tech co's and others are on the track to this becoming the norm,.. and showing the history of normal employment into the tech world. And how the competition is making prices go lower. While humans are competing with robots, slaves/incarcerated, and those in the developing world

[@dynamic75]

It was all fun and games when he wanted to talk about that office Foozball, lunch area, with his manufactured laugh, but as soon as she asked dough boy about salary, he has “stuff” to do. 🙄

[@mikezooper]

When asked where the workers live, the CEO stumbles over his words: “They live all over erm the the world.”

[@OneAdam12Adam]

Business classes don't include Geography 101. Thanks Stanford!

[@donaldjohnson-ow3kq]

Max Keiser coined the term 'Online Casino Gulag Economy' around 10 years ago - that seems to describe this concept of having different levels of achievement for staying with the game.

[@FINALB]

25:09 - 26:30 Pretty much sums it up a lot of the psychology of these ''tech bros''.

[@danielcunningham6727]

Yeah he was all laughs and jokes up until the akward questions started people like him repulse me raised with a silver spoon no doubt.

[@ticoguy05]

Exactly!

[@tangie06_33]

Definitely raised with a silver spoon and privilege. He doesn't know how other people live... nor does he care.

[@mp-xs7th]

He was fake accually...based on him you wonder if that company has any value

[@AdamGeest]

I tried to start a company like this. Only I wanted it to be aimed at actually helping the humans in the loop.

[@AdamGeest]

The figure 8 supervillain didn’t se these questions coming?

[@iquid7494]

I've worked as data annotator as contractor for American tech giant.. pay is $1.3/hr with strict deliverables. You'll be lucky to make $300 a month

[@johnmicheal5722]

@@iquid7494 😢

[@thatwasprettyneat]

Why would you work for that pay though? How could you support yourself?

[@fastlanenigeria]

@@thatwasprettyneat if he was in somewhere like Nigeria, he'd be earning more than entry level bank workers (bank tellers, etc). Earning more than most blue collar workers (plumbers, mechanics, electricians etc). The third-world countries themselves need to improve their economies and quality of life.

[@OfficialCANVAS]

​@@fastlanenigeria its great entry pay for no education. That's dope!

[@yvechapman9342]

It's so disheartening watching young men like this 5:59 wandering around playing boss with other people's money making millions doing... labelling. Meanwhile my husband works himself to the bone in a factory for next to nothing.

[@Github_tech_with_ty]

Did you husband study computer science?

[@yvechapman9342]

@@Github_tech_with_ty no, medical billing and coding. Couldn't make enough money in it and went into factories in his twenties and gained all his experience and skills firsthand. My dad planned to go into the navy and studied geography to work on submarines. Then his program got cancelled so he started working at Radio Shack and put himself through computer classes. He's been working for an HP affiliate for thirty years. Dodges layoffs constantly. All my "uncles" from HP are already laid off now that COVID is over.

[@ogawasanjuro]

@@Github_tech_with_ty , don't be rude to @yvechapman9342 . You know that it is not just about studying computer science that made the difference. That fellow is a rich fellow who went to an elite school that taught him that he could use people like cogs. Clearly, you must understand this.

[@BossFlight]

​​@@Github_tech_with_ty Most of these have finance degreed, devs are just like chickens to these companies, not their fault just born greed imoral psycopaths

[@sd-xk7qr]

the difference is I think your husband works for somebody else whereas he works for himself

[@mrtienphysics666]

It is amazing that Google allows this video to be up, since it is critical of Google. According to the Tech shareholders, robots are supposed to take over the dull, dangerous and dirty.

[@mikezooper]

A lowly paid moderation slave hasn’t had a chance to remove it yet!?

[@mathewszulman7659]

@@mrtienphysics666 follow the money not the words they say. The words mean nothing, their actions are what you have to follow.

[@viktoriaherzberg9519]

KZbin must show this to every platform user

[@mrpmj00]

No, they're not slaves. They agreed to the arrangement and are compensated. They can get another job.

[@RedShipsofSpainAgain]

19:30 Wait, so she works 40 hours a week on the Figure Eight site tasks. That's 160 hours per month. And she earns $250/month? If my math's right, that's $250/ 160 hours = $1.56/hour???? Why do that work at all?

[@LilyGazou]

Desperate times. She could teach English as a second language for better money.

[@dand337]

@@LilyGazou In that case I presume that she can work remotely maybe taking care of her children. I'm very sceptical bout this video.

[@OneAdam12Adam]

These people are brain dead.

[@inmydelorean6025]

Low self-esteem, no education, no connections, no ambitions, etc.

[@javierRC82857]

Companies can demand the work they need at the price that suits them, it is up to the worker to accept or look for other alternatives. We assume that we are free to choose, if people are desperate and forced to work in something that does not suit them, then the problem is with the labor market for certain types of conditions (remote and does not require degrees or certifications), those people need to improve their employability, but forcing companies will never generate more jobs or better conditions in the medium and long term.

[@AdrianMulligan]

I learned programming, security, and forensics back in 2012, but I never pursued a career in it. It looked soul draining, and I could sense where all this was going, so I remained a chef. It's tough... but it feels real!😊

[@dinaanand6388]

Great video. More info like this needs to come out. Remember Nike’s use of slave labour in the late 90s. The world stood up in a big way to call them out. AI companies are the new Nikes and we need a similar response.

[@gmy33]

Its mopping the floor when you have to close the tap .. the tap is .. business does not have to be clean or just !!! .. it has to make money.

[@LAStars-sratS]

Unforgivable the greed sickness that these companies have 🤮 I’m so sorry for those ppl!!

[@krotson6767]

It's an ordinary pyramid of earnings. This is how the world works. As an employee, you may or may not work for company A, B, C, D that pays you for your work. However, if a thousand people do something for someone a day, that person may earn $1,000 a day. $1 from each employee's daily wage. If you have 100,000 of them, you have $100,000. If someone is paid to work for $0.20, he is either naive and stupid, or he earns much more because, for example, he sells something to millions of other people. A cryptocurrency miner will earn more in a day than these people will earn in a month. FB moderators have a hard time. They accept trauma for the rest of their lives for little pay. There is supposedly flagging of content, but would anyone want their child to have to flag when someone's head is decapitated? Probably not. So this job is actually as valuable as the job of a cleaning lady, except that you clean the whole world at the same time.

[@mrpmj00]

No, they're not slaves. They agreed to the arrangement and are compensated. They can get another job.

[@abacus749]

The average wage for a child (ie. under 14) in INDIA is $10.50 dollars a month. The average salary,unskilled worker in India is $119 dollars a month. The cost of living in India for a poor person is $59 dollars per month. The Tech. slaves in the film are the real slaves, NOT garment workers in India.

[@tymondabrowski12]

​@@abacus749 I don't know about India, but I think I watched about Bangladesh I think? And it wasn't just about wages, but: very bad working conditions (stuff like dye in your lungs etc.), working for 12h daily with no weekends or holidays, no breaks, extremely fast speed of sewing, and if you mess a garment up, it's taken off of your wages. Pay might even be liveable if you say so, but all the rest shows the disregard for human life. But yeah, the Americans doing all that stuff for pennies is a terrible thing too. It's different, but also terrible.

[@gmy33]

India has growing middle class .. the west has declining middle class

[@internetmaryann]

Man, absolutely crappy support job as a contractor in EU will yield $800 - $2500, depending on the level. Not even talking further specializations in actually decent companies. To say I’m shocked by this coverage is an understatement.

[@parabellum4622]

22:34 Is what you're here for... The rest is the realization that this is an actual thing and is actually happening right now. 23:14 is the best part...

[@Github_tech_with_ty]

They graduated from pizza parties to virtual badges

[@KD0MOO]

True.

[@LouisMorganxb3]

It's certain that this year will bring more challenges. Looking back, I realized that I spent the entire previous year making expensive financial blunders because I was so consumed with worrying about my portfolio. I was forced to decide between raising my investments and purchasing a home. I discovered that the property I had bought needed more work than I had anticipated after deciding to sell my investments. It's becoming more difficult to determine how much longer I can take this.

[@AlexClarkcompany]

Take things easy, we've all made mistakes..

[@BaileyJames-zv2ddd]

Invest in companies that provide current cash flows to diversify your portfolio. I hired a planner at the end of 2022 to enhance my portfolio, and in the last ten months, I've made profits in over fifty thousand different marketplaces. Should 2023 teach us anything, it's that luck doesn't last forever. Even in times of abundance, we should put in more effort to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

[@LouisMorganxb3]

How can one find a verifiable financial planner? I would not mind looking up the professional that helped you. I will be retiring in two years and I might need some management on my much larger portfolio. Don't want to take any chances.

[@BaileyJames-zv2ddd]

Leah Foster Alderman. You'll undoubtedly find out more if you look her up online.

[@LouisMorganxb3]

She appears to be well educated and well read. I ran an online search on her name and came across her website, thank you for sharing.

[@ritagreenwood9397]

'When there was work for a man, ten men fought for it- fought with a low wage. If that fella’ll work for thirty cents, I’ll work for twenty-five. If he’ll take twenty-five, I’ll do it for twenty. No, me, I’m hungry. I’ll work for fifteen. I’ll work for food. The kids. You ought to see them. Little boils, like, comin’ out, an’ they can’t run aroun’. Give ’em some windfall fruit, an’ they bloated up. Me, I’ll work for a little piece of meat. And this was good, for wages went down and prices stayed up. The great owners were glad and they sent out more handbills to bring more people in. And wages went down and prices stayed up. And pretty soon now we’ll have serfs again' - The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck, 1939

[@Allplussomeminus]

This story telling and editing brings me back to the 90s-early 2000s.

[@soniaCodes]

the way his confidence changed when asked the real questions...

[@dfgdfggdfgdfg5838]

he foldet preety quickly haha

[@strollingthroughparadise353]

Tragic how so many people have become the exact name that businesses began calling workers many years ago - Human Resources, a resource no different than a product to be exploited. This is how businesses and the people who own them can blind themselves to what they are creating in the name of money. Social media has potential to connect people, but it seems its tragic side is expanding. How do we as humanity stop this deeply disturbing course? You all know the answer. 🙏

[@raymond_luxury_yacht]

It's people and culture now.

[@lxMaDnEsSxl]

"Human Resources". Deep

[@mrpmj00]

No, they're not slaves. They agreed to the arrangement and are compensated. They can get another job.

[@the100percentstraightguy]

30 cents.... the electricity alone for his computer...

[@1AEGIS]

thats why so many use it from phone

[@drhxa]

Social media is in fact the central cause of all of society's problems today. Think about a societal issue, consider how social media might be making it worse if not causing it. You'll realize that facebook and similar social media are at the center of all of it. What can we do? Stay away from it. Seriously delete those apps that make you think twice sometimes and never look back. Thank me later.

[@the_mariocrafter]

No, social media algorithms should be VERY regulated to the point where negative content is not shown to users and it becomes only fun to use social media for 15 minutes at a time until it gets boring, social media like snapchat is what it should be like, but stories should never expire to prevent addiction. This should be for ALL ages, not just minors. There was a mass violent activity in Myanmar because of Facebook's algorithm, and overall more polarization in society.

[@drhxa]

@@the_mariocrafter of course it should be very regulated, it's the biggest danger to democracy. Why do you think fascism is on the rise around the world?

[@1AEGIS]

huh? how is social media bad? with a hammer u can work or hit someone. u can't say is good or evil, lol. u use social media to share what is to be shared. like entertaining, corruption, tutorials for learning skills

[@drhxa]

@@1AEGISI really learned a lot from and enjoyed the movie "The Social Dilemma", highly recommend

[@1AEGIS]

@@drhxa what makes u think i want to open a netflix ? u just said go off social media. netflix is a social media as well. this 'social' is like a monologue, because only the film actors speak to you, they can't hear u. but is still social exchange of a media file

[@chknchkn6385]

They also didn't show the insanely fast rate one would have to work at to make any the approx. $250 the one lady said she makes monthly. She'd have to work with machine-like efficiency, at machine-like speed, and still manage to do good job.

[@user-uq2ko4jq2v]

only 25k views? Come on humans!! This needs more boost in the youtube algorithm.. like and comment to get it out to everyone

[@zS39SBT4fe5Zp8Q]

The algorithm does not like this video critical of it

[@MisteryBio]

And this is how revolutions happen.

[@OneAdam12Adam]

We are overdue!

[@kaischoneweiss]

@@OneAdam12Adam its wild to me that people like Beilwald exist and can just go about their life without any confrontation.

[@dylanhogan1818]

Truly remarkable journalism @realstories Exposing the truth in this nuanced and persistent way is the purest form of journalism and I congratulate your whole team of filmmakers. wow. This will stick with me forever. Thank you I hope as many people watch this as possible.

[@danielvest9602]

I worked for a similar company, and found that it did get better financially if you were careful and built up skill sets, but never more than $5 an hour until I began working on reviewing AI written computer code, which paid more but took hours of unpaid training to master.

[@MrTynanDraper]

At least reviewing AI code...you will probably learn to become a great coder yourself and can find much better employment.

[@Lolleka]

​@@MrTynanDraperWishful thinking. It takes practice, and good mentoring, and a lot of luck since the job market is saturated with skilled people

[@mainzy7280]

Hello there. Could you share the site/company name. I'm looking to start earning online

[@ceciphar]

@@MrTynanDraper you would need to the skill to see why the AI was wrong in the first place. And if you learned to code just for below minimum wage work then idk what to say

[@inmydelorean6025]

How can you review the code written by AI if you can't code? If you can code why would you work for $5/hr?

[@toulaishsharma9255]

Thank you for exposing the dark side of things!

[@ozzyosbourne6]

Today's world is disgraceful. I'll give an example out of this topic but about similar type of a slavery. I had been just looking a job for 3d and environment artist role positions. I've seen one job positng, and it was written "we are looking for volunteers to work with us" they are even far from paying for people's time. They try to get that job done for free. Unfortunately, especially after covid everything got worse in job industries. Particularly, for beginners. 😢

[@tangie06_33]

Odd that such a high tech company has a low tech brag wall. The company sold for $300M all while paying people pennies.

[@CMoore8539]

It’s a disgrace!

[@RickR69]

That's capitalism, just min maxing. Maxing out profits while squeezing out value from the poors at the bottom.

[@Aranzahas]

There are many who will saddle someone who calls themselves a donkey.

[@OfficialCANVAS]

​@@RickR69nothing new. Granting people with great entry pay compared to local blue collar jobs is awesome

[@deniseb4426]

If you have to teach a machine a thousand times how to recognize a pedestrian, I don't think the machine is that intelligent...

[@insertname5421]

It isn't.

[@danielcohenemail]

lol that’s a dumb comment. Training a machine even if it takes 100 million times if the machine works forever then it’s pretty smart to do

[@krox477]

You're correct that's why we call it artificial

[@allanhutton1123]

Just a good slight of hand

[@2encephalon]

Not really teaching a machine more of giving the machine more computing data to work with. Machines can’t learn the way a human brain does. It’s more of teaching the algorithm which is made by computational math. Math such as discrete mathematics, linear algebra, etc. The amount of people out there that say math is useless are usually the same people who complain about such things or make blanket statements like this.

[@gutia3400]

Interesting documentary highlighting the dark side of AI and machine learning. Silicon Valley is hyping it up to be the next biggest thing, their stock values are skyrocketing. But behind it all is millions of people making pennies.

[@psyberking]

I wonder if these virtual slave workers could unionize online. Then a "strike" could involve something like feeding wrong answers intentionally to the AI until the union's demands are met.

[@TheDefirion]

That's part of the reason they are across the globe, if one brach tries to pull something like this, the company will shut it down and move the project to a different subcontractor

[@psyberking]

@@TheDefirion The Union website membership would be open to all who register. Meetings would be virtual. Anyone from any part of the world can join. The word just needs to get around, so that even new contractors know that they have an alternative to virtual slavery.

[@topspduk]

This made me re-think about the use Facebook and the social media in general. This is a great documentary, very informative.

[@ATH42069]

this is a bombshell. I have goosebumbs all over my body

[@ledwysdelgado7304]

It's very important to see how the sausage is made.

[@hiya2793]

idk what everyones crying about. 5 bucks an hour, 8h a day, 20 days a week means 800€ - which is twice median wage in bangladesh, working comfy at home, on your phone, with your own hours, while watching a tv-show Oh- you guys are crying that a single mom living in a gigantic house in one of the most expensive countries on planet earth can't feed her 4 children comfortably by doing internet quizzes at home designed for third world countries??? And the company that pays twice the median wage while having 0 hourly requirements is evil now???? Are you all insane????

[@ledwysdelgado7304]

@@hiya2793 That's one way of seeing it.

[@eteresa3598]

5 in a good day, sometimes 10 cents. You don’t know if she owns the house.

[@veryslyfox]

The company should definitely be forced to pay more. Then it can move all those jobs to another country, and these people won't have any work to whine about anymore. Happy now, idiots?

[@247BRIDGE]

We need to start calling out those slave masters. Microsoft is so big into this. I tried few hours and stopped nonsense. People are wasting their lives away for a farthing.

[@awrsish]

@@247BRIDGE you could probably legitimately earn more money from doing Xbox/Microsoft edge quests

[@1AEGIS]

@@awrsish what quests?

[@1AEGIS]

there is something worst than working for low pay and that's working for free. big gaming tech offer a voluntary support application. nobody promises them anything. but people go work there for free for years with a illussion that they gonna get the big dollars one day

[@stepanvondrich9637]

Yes, Accenture is a little slick company. It's clear from this video. It is the worldwide employer that has 500 000 employees all over the world without hesitation to act with you like you are nothing :D this story is so cool. Great work, Real Stories great work! How can they justify offering minimum wage for this? It is a joke!

[@Ksnieup]

PR guy got setup irl lmfao. Man definitely lost his job

[@glennkamers]

Thought it was strange that when they mentioned where's the Google plaque the PR guy said we ran out of room, wouldn't Google be in the first row at least? Or did Google decide that they don't want this PR 🤔

[@d33unlock71]

Thanks for the efforts you guys out in!

[@crimsonlightbinder]

the figure eight guy is the quintessential template for in a random movie/tv series

[@attilahajdu4907]

Fascinating documentary, thank you for making it

[@EmaryBella]

I work for an amazing US company now. They pay fair, as long as it helps us live a comfortable life in a third world country, I'm very grateful. The job also helps us hone our skills, plus very kind executives.

[@ZebeddiDooDah]

Suuuure

[@swallowedinthesea11]

All the more reason the Internet and AI needs to be internationally regulated by the US!

[@daweller]

I get the feeling this video will get removed...

[@aceyage]

Then let's spread it even more!

[@readaloudkids1407]

@@daweller i hope not! Everyone needs to see it!

[@infini.tesimo]

Would it kill the owner of that company to actually pay these contractors a real income? They're based in San Francisco, surely there's a budget for this instead of pennies.

[@LilyGazou]

Whatever they can get away with

[@zS39SBT4fe5Zp8Q]

Yes. The shareholders would replace him

[@videopilot1719]

Tesla would just hire another company willing to do it cheaper... While Elon continues to make $5 billion a year there.

[@caliniaru1673]

This was good. Thank you for the effort.

[@tomanicodin]

24:20 I'm going to start using the 11 o'clock exit more often. It works quite nicely.

[@veteranxt4481]

Funny i applied for this. Got rejected! I guess i was lucky

[@AdamGeest]

The figure eight guy is an evil supervillain.

[@zhoudan4387]

@@AdamGeest you start a company and throw money to everyone. Let me know. Thanks.

[@AdamGeest]

​@@zhoudan4387 Yeah, because the opposite of throwing breadcrumbs at these famished beggars weary of their lives is the wanton dilapidation of whatever meager profit you have been able to painstakingly scrape together. I'm sorry, the miseries that are on full display here are grim and borderline Dickensian. What's the point of any of this, after all, if we cannot channel human energies and industry in ways that are more productive and dignified? How can anything positive ultimately emerge from a company that is fundamentally premised on treating human material as just that-a spiritless means toward some utilitarian, profit-maximizing end?

[@inmydelorean6025]

@@AdamGeest Great comment! It's just feudalism with expensive castles and cathedrals built by uneducated and exploited peasants.

[@GoldenMediaGirl]

The moderators take the PTSD that the rest of us would suffer from, if these things were left on the internet. They have my greatest thanks and deserve so much better.

[@darabanvalentin8991]

After I sow this video I deleted all the social media. Thanks for this video.

[@readaloudkids1407]

Good for you!

[@C12341]

This is like the movie Snowpiercer. Watch it and you'll see exactly what I mean.

[@LilyGazou]

Yesssss👁👁

[@unspacelaw]

Train 🚆 full of people

[@marcoborghi9327]

very good reportage. Thank you

[@JS-kr7zy]

I worked for a company called Lionbridge that was contracted by Microsoft to train its Bing search engine. One odd thing about it, on top of all the rigid rules and boring work, was that you weren't allowed to work too quickly. They would fire you if you performed tasks beyond the KPI, and the speed they wanted you to work at was incredibly slow. I think they were trying to pull one over on Microsoft, but it was written in black and white in the employment contract so maybe MS was aware of it. Really strange industry. I quit because the work was so incredibly boring, and because working around the KPI restrictions was annoying.

[@jbird4478]

It's because MS (and others) have had issues with subcontractors and those click-for-pennies sites sneakily automating the jobs themselves. So if you were working too fast it would raise alarm bells at Microsoft and that's why the subcontractor doesn't allow you to do that.

[@Toyrapy]

More people should watch this video. Thanks the team and all the people who contribute to make this video possible.

[@pmf598]

Well done . . . . . . . you got right into it there and it wasn't easy , thank you .

[@13thbiosphere]

Not consulting with police about a murder that's a crime in itself you're a witness and there needs to be a criminal investigation on every case

[@sober_soul_1]

Brilliant work team…👍🏻🙏🏼

[@wrenillusions]

Incredible video, thanks for this.

[@mariafernandamartinez1093]

Same in Latin America, literally I saw the other day a jod post on LinkedIn teach support agent languages required English Spanish Portuguese 2 years of experience a bunch of knowledge on software and so on, if they could being able to communicate (i do not know want they understand for "communicate" in Russian or Turkish or Indi, 3 to 4 USA dollars per hr 😢

[@ThapeloMKT]

in South Africa, the minimum wage is $1.5 an hour, it's not a lot, even here, but you can survive with dignity with that pay, that's the best case scenario tho, where unexpected expenses don't come up. So honestly, I wouldn't mind $1 - $5 for these tasks. But of course, this would leave the Americans worse off cos I and the Indians are willing to work for what's peanuts for Americans.

[@1AEGIS]

is just currency exchange, is 1 dollar little for americans, because coffee 4 years ago in california was 50 dollars. and who u think drinks only one coffee a day? and who u think only survives with 1 coffee a day? so, they have to demand more high payment, bcz everything costs more

[@CD-pm9kc]

Those kind of videos scar your brain FOREVER.

[@katerose8393]

I dabbled briefly in online piecework, out of curiosity. It’s not just that the remuneration is absolutely terrible, but in order to even get to that 30 cents an hour you have to be working at full concentration. Eyes on screen, hands on mouse. No looking out the window in meetings, no toilet breaks, not even time out to make and drink a coffee. So compared to someone in an average office or retail job, you’re working many times harder.