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‘In the end, you feel blank’: India’s female workers watching hours of abusive content to train AI
(www.theguardian.com)
(deleted content)
this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2026
345 points (97.8% liked)
Technology
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It's not just that it's slavery, but it's literally destroying the people doing it. Being exposed to so much horrendous content has lasting impact. It's like the coal mines (or any number of other body destroying examples) but it's not lungs that suffer, it's the brain.
I would say that it wasn't us, the ordinary people, who created this terrible world, but we definitely allowed the worst among us to do so - and we even rewarded them for it, so that this monstrous world is now ruled by the most ruthless, like a monarchy that was believed to have been overcome. Apparently, civilizational progress is not bound to the passage of time, as I strongly suspect that we are regressing civilizational: back to absolutism with its degenerate rulers who give free rein to their perverse desires - and they can do so, because they are at the top of a society they exploit with impunity.
Social media was a mistake.
The first few years was just about fun and sharing high points of our lives (I was then pulled into Facebook by MMO clanmates initially for the casual games and for group communications). But then just came the fringers, the lechers, and the extremists, before entities like Cambridge Analytica arrived with the idea social media could also be used to manipulate the masses.
Is that seriously an "AI is like a child" poster made to motivate workers?
AI companies sure love to treat humans like machines, while humanizing machines.
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I'm honestly so sick of this sick world we live in. Lately it just seems like the veil has slipped and we can see how truly depraved the rich and powerful are and we are not able to do anything significant to change it.
We are, but we’d have to give up a lot.
However, they keep taking more and more. So how long before they take enough that giving up the rest is worth it?
Rotten, sure. Nothing new. It's been a top/down rule for all of human history.
The sick world you live in is online. It's not real. The world you see through your black mirror isn't the same as the one you see outside the window. News has always been a litany of human misery. Online news is pure and condensed human suffering.
Working in EMS feels like this, only you get paid worse somehow
At least you're doing something valuable
That bowling pin isn't gonna extricate itself from that rectum
I did goatsee that coming.
Dude... this is insane. This kind of work should be done by law enforcement or something. Certainly by somebody who has seen plenty of video evidence in their lifetime. By somebody who has regular visits with a mental health specialist as a work requirement. Unbelievable the things the tech industry will save on and how little they care about people. Why don't they have their own damn family members watch all that deranged crap?
As much as I hate to say it, law enforcement are people too. Not good people, but people.
Nobody should have to do a job that injured them, physically or mentally.
That's 100% a stupid take.
There are many dangerous jobs that NEED to be done.
And the people who do the jobs to keep your soft ass safe should be honored and well compensated.
People watch hours of traumatic content all day voluntarily.
How many people have you seen being killed this year? Probably more than most people ever see in their entire lives (before computers).
That trauma adds up for everyone
I now avoid all videos showing deaths or serious injuries (if I know that kind of content is coming).
Feels better to not have those images in my mind.
The same thing happens, to a much lesser extent, when you read emotionally charged headlines. Having your mental health being constantly bombarded with outrage, anger, fear, etc may be good for social media companies and their Engagement metrics, but it's very bad for each individual (and also society).
It's astonishing how much better your mental health is if you stay off social media even for a few days.
1000% Even on Lemmy, my default view is my subscribed communities and none of them are political so, outside of Linux v Windows drama and associated memes I don't have to see much outrage (not counting Mint users, smh)
The best tip I've found is to delete the apps and force yourself to use the web interface (and turn on private mode in your browser so it clears your cookies ever time so you have to type your username and password each time).
Adding that little bit of friction is enough to overcome the random compulsions to check social media. Not that typing in your username and password is hard, but it is annoying enough that you'll avoid it usually.
Give me the names of some of those sweet communities, kind stranger.
Please?
Give these a shot:
https://lemmy.world/c/dull_mens_club
https://lemmy.world/c/linux@lemmy.ml
https://lemmy.world/c/linux@programming.dev
https://lemmy.world/c/linux_gaming
https://lemmy.world/c/privacy@lemmy.ml
https://lemmy.world/c/privacy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
https://lemmy.world/c/privacy@lemmy.ca
https://lemmy.world/c/technology
https://lemmy.world/c/tenforward
Thank you!
You're welcome :)
Ignorance is indeed bliss.
"None" is not a huge number. Why would i want to watch someone die?
It has been long time since social media cared about showing us things that we wanted to see.
There have been several shootings that have had massive social media impact, you may have avoided them (and you did the right thing) but a huge amount of people experienced witnessing their first shooting death and maybe 2nd, 3rd and 4th this year. That's a lot of cumulative psychological stress being inflicted on society and it isn't like we're living in a world that is otherwise a calming paradise...
Social media is inflicting real harms and the people in control don't seem very motivated to try to control them. Or, they did try in tests and determined that Engagement was more profitable and they're shielded from the externalities so who cares really?
Why would i want to watch someone die?
I'm not falling for that.
I can't read URLs.
That trauma adds up for everyone
if they bitchass
I know it's a horrible job, but at this point I wouldn't mind trading some sanity to pay the bills.
Crazy world.
These women are GLOBAL heroines.
They absolutely should be treated as such.
They use AI to pre-select training data anyway. Can't they categorize good content with it? Whitelist vs. blacklist.
Who do you think will train the AI to whitelist things?
The filter-AI that is itself trained to recognize only good content. Right now, they use all except some bad.
Is this AI filter with us in the room?
Yes, this should be left to professionals who are trained and conditioned for this type of service: myself just having witnessed these types of interactions both personally and on the outside, can only imagine how that goes if it were day in and day out. I’m so messed up from those. GL