- Chinese AI companies are quietly tapping into Kenya’s young workforce, hiring students and recent graduates to label thousands of videos a day.
- The work is done through opaque networks of middlemen and WhatsApp groups that operate like digital factory floors.
- Kenya’s weak labor protections and soaring youth unemployment have made it a hot spot for cheap AI labor, prompting officials and unions to warn of a new form of digital colonialism as the government rushes to draft regulations.
It’s 3 a.m. in Nairobi, and Ken’s laptop and phone glow in the dark. On one screen, waves crash against a beach in a video, and on the other, a woman stretches into a yoga pose. He has watched each clip several times, trying to decide whether or not it’s in slow motion.
