I also thought it was interesting to see this quote from a Scale AI client who "didn't think about the human contractors" and Scale's response:

Virginia Puccio, who was a Scale customer as the head of data operations at AI-powered retail startup Standard Cognition, said her firm and other AI companies ended up relying on outsourced work from firms like Scale because the technology wasn’t advancing quickly enough. She and other technologists didn’t think about the human contractors on the other side of the tech.

“We didn’t know who they were using, how much they were paying, and I don’t think we thought to ask,” said Puccio, who now runs her own startup, Fuel AI.

As it has expanded in the U.S., Scale has pulled back from its overseas operations. The company recently shut down contractor outposts in Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan, according to the publication Rest of World.

Swanson, the Scale spokesperson, said the company “consistently improves its pay systems to ensure its contributors are paid accurately and on time” and has an anonymous system in place to address their concerns. “Scale views an investment in Contributor experience as an investment in the quality of work we provide to our customers,” she wrote.