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October 2, 2023: JOB playwright Max Friedlich

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Today: Max Friedlich, playwright, JOB

• JOB at SoHo Playhouse

• Kenyan moderators decry toll of training of AI models (Guardian, Aug 2, 2023):

While employed by Sama in 2021 and 2022 in Nairobi to review content for OpenAI, the content moderators allege, they suffered psychological trauma, low pay and abrupt dismissal.

The 51 moderators in Nairobi working on Sama’s OpenAI account were tasked with reviewing texts, and some images, many depicting graphic scenes of violence, self-harm, murder, rape, necrophilia, child abuse, bestiality and incest, the petitioners say.

The moderators say they weren’t adequately warned about the brutality of some of the text and images they would be tasked with reviewing, and were offered no or inadequate psychological support. Workers were paid between $1.46 and $3.74 an hour, according to a Sama spokesperson.

Daniel Motaung, who was hired as a Facebook content moderator by Sama in 2019, filed a lawsuit against the two companies last year, alleging he had been exposed to graphic and traumatic content at work without adequate prior knowledge or proper psychosocial support – which he said left him with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Isabella Plunkett has worked as a Facebook content moderator for just over two years, and still works there.

Her job is to review posts on the platform - which can contain graphic violence, exploitation, extremism, abuse and suicide.

The 26-year-old says she could not speak to her friends or family about the things she saw at work due to a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) which she had signed at the beginning of her contract.