--- title: "Contractors Say OpenAI Psychologically Scarred Them for $2/Hour" description: "Four former ChatGPT content moderators have filed a petition for an investigation into the OpenAI-contracted moderation firm Sama." date: "2023-08-05" modified: "2023-08-05" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/contractors-openai-petition" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "ai" - "content moderation" - "OpenAI" - "the digest" --- # Contractors Say OpenAI Psychologically Scarred Them for $2/Hour ![Four former ChatGPT content moderators have filed a petition for an investigation into the OpenAI-contracted moderation firm Sama.]() *CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman (R) arrives for an official State Dinner in honor of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at the White House in Washington, DC, on June 22, 2023. (Photo by Stefani Reynolds / AFP) (Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images) \Image: STEFANI REYNOLDS via Getty Images\* ## Gut Wrenching Four former content moderators have filed a petition with the Kenyan government asking for an investigation into the content moderation company Sama, on grounds that workers were subjected to exploitative and harmful conditions [during an eight-month contract with OpenAI]() between 2021 and 2022, [*The Guardian* reports](). In the filing, per the *Guardian*, former ChatGPT moderators say they weren't properly warned about the brutality of the content that they would be tasked to moderate — and then paid between $1.46 and $3.74 to review "graphic scenes of violence, self-harm, murder, rape, necrophilia, child abuse, bestiality and incest" during the training of OpenAI products*.* Then, when Sama's contract with OpenAI ended suddenly, the workers say they were given no support to deal with the lasting psychological effects of their moderation labor. "It has really damaged my mental health," 27-year-old Mophat Okinyi, one of the four plaintiffs in the suit, told the *Guardian* of his experience doing moderation work for the OpenAI-contracted firm Sama. After reading graphic texts about rape, Okinyi told the newspaper, he became paranoid and withdrawn; his pregnant wife ultimately left him, saying he was a changed man. "I lost my family," Okinyi told the *Guardian.* ## Invisible Human Infrastructure Twenty-eight-year-old petitioner Alex Kairu told the *Guardian* a similar story: that as a result of ChatGPT moderation work, his relationship with his wife has suffered, and he's been forced to move back in with his parents. "It has destroyed me completely," Kairu told the newspaper. Specifically, the former ChatGPT moderators are asking for written government regulation regarding the outsourcing of "harmful and dangerous technology work" to Kenya, according to the *Guardian*. They're also asking that the government rewrites existing legislation to "include the exposure to harmful content as an occupation hazard," and per the newspaper, are additionally calling for an investigation into the country's ministry of labor for a failure to protect the country's youth against abuse by outsourcing firms. For its part, Sama — which has also worked with big tech players including Facebook, Google, and Microsoft — has generally denied allegations of wrongdoing, arguing that it offered workers living wages and wellness support. It also maintains that after the contract with OpenAI suddenly ended, employees were offered roles in other moderation projects. But this isn't Sama's first time in [hot water](), and to that end, let this be a reminder that the burgeoning AI industry is built upon a vast infrastructure of human labor, which often amounts to distressing and exploitative work. Contractors need to do better — but most importantly, so do the billion-dollar companies like OpenAI that hire them. **More on Sama and OpenAI:** [*OpenAI Apparently Paid People in the Developing World $2/Hour to Look at the Most Disturbing Content Imaginable*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()