Thousands of people are selling their identities to train AI – but at what cost?
TL;DR
People worldwide are selling personal data – videos, photos, texts, calls – to AI companies via apps like Kled AI for quick cash.
Key Points
- Jacobus Louw from Cape Town earned $14 for a short walking video, roughly ten times the local minimum wage per hour.
- Tasks range from 'Urban Navigation' footage to private conversations and messages used as AI training data.
- In emerging markets these gig platforms are especially attractive, where even small dollar amounts carry significant purchasing power.
- Long-term consequences – who owns the data, how it gets used, and whether consent is truly informed – often remain unclear.
Nauti's Take
Fourteen dollars for a walking video sounds tempting, but the real winners are the AI companies – not the data suppliers. Selling your voice, face, or text messages means handing over not just data, but potentially your digital identity indefinitely.
These platforms look as innocent as any crowdworking app, but the terms of service tell a different story. Until clear rules exist about what happens to this data after upload, 'informed consent' in this context is more marketing than reality.
Sources