'AI Is African Intelligence': The Workers Who Train AI Are Fighting Back

> “AI can never be AI without humans. It is not artificial intelligence. It’s African intelligence,” Asia said. “Most of these are dirty jobs and most of these jobs have been done here in Africa. And then once you’re done, once a tool is functional, all the communication stops. You get locked out. We are training our own death. We train ChatGPT and it’s killing us slowly.” > > Draconian nondisclosure agreements and terms of services that workers can’t opt out from have created a culture of fear, and one of DLA’s goals is to make it easier for workers to speak out. At the time I met Asia in January, the DLA had 870 members, but its ranks have been growing quickly. > > “I’m doing this from a point of experience, not assumption. I have been through this. I know what I’m talking about,” Asia said. “We have this monster called the NDA. The NDA is a slave tool used to enslave people to not speak about what they’re going through. I’m very much ready for any legal battle [associated with NDAs] because we’re not going to keep quiet. This is us suffering, and we can’t suffer in silence. This is not the colonial period. I have the right to speak against any violation [of my rights] and that’s what I’m doing.”