---
title: "Refugees in Uganda Are Earning Money by Training AIs"
description: "## Win-Win"
date: "2018-11-21"
modified: "2018-11-21"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/training-ais-refugees-levelapp"
categories:
  - "Artificial Intelligence"
tags:
  - "ai"
  - "dataset"
  - "refugee"
  - "the digest"
  - "training ai"
---

# Refugees in Uganda Are Earning Money by Training AIs

![A new app puts the task of training AIs in the hands of Ugandan refugees, who can earn the money they earn to rebuild their lives.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/training-ais-refugees-levelapp.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Lotta.relander\</em\>*

## Win-Win

The worldwide number of people forcibly displaced from their homes by violence, war, and persecution is now [68.5 million](<https://www.unhcr.org/globaltrends2017/>) — more than the population of the U.K., for context.

REFUNITE is a nonprofit dedicated to helping many of those refugees reconnect with their missing loved ones. Now, it thinks it's found a way to help them get back on their feet financially, too — while simultaneously advancing the field of artificial intelligence.

## AI Training Day

To train an AI, researchers must often feed the system troves of meticulously labelled data. Those [datasets](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/generating-datasets-ai>) can be expensive to buy and time-consuming to create.

REFUNITE believes it's [found a solution](<https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/11/mobile-app-pays-refugees-to-boost-artificial-intelligence/>) to that problem — last week, the nonprofit announced the creation of LevelApp, an app that makes it easy for anyone with a smartphone to earn money labeling AI-training data.

The company is currently conducting a pilot project of the app with 5,000 refugees in Uganda**,** 200 of whom are labeling data for DeepBrain Chain, an AI-focused blockchain company.If that trial goes as hoped, it plans to scale up to 25,000 Ugandan refugees within two years.

## Leveling Up

According to a [World Economic Forum story](<https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/11/mobile-app-pays-refugees-to-boost-artificial-intelligence/>), REFUNITE's co-chief executive Chris Mikkelsen told attendees at a recent conference on human rights that a person could make up to $20 a day through LevelApp. And while that might not be enough to cover the cost of living for people in many places, it could be life-changing for a Ugandan refugee.

Currently, a refugee in Uganda is likely to earn just $1.25 a day doing the basic tasks or menial jobs available to them. That means LevelApp could increase their income 16-fold. The refugee could then use that extra money for everything from healthcare to education for their children.

In other words, this single app could help members of a vulnerable population rebuild their lives, all while helping shape the future of AI.

**READ MORE:** [This Mobile App Is Paying Refugees to Train Artificial Intelligence](<https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/11/mobile-app-pays-refugees-to-boost-artificial-intelligence/>) \[World Economic Forum\]

***More on training AI: [This AI Dreams up Brain Tumor Scans to Train Other AIs](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/generating-datasets-ai>)***

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)