OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 per Hour to Make ChatGPT Less Toxic

Re:OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 per Hour to Ma... by joannanewsom on Wednesday January 18, 2023 @11:47PM (#34436796)

You are arguing from an "fairness" standpoint but none of that matters if your proposed policy would the lives of people in poverty worse. That's where we differ. I think that if you enforce an equal-pay-for-equal-work law, you will see an increase in wages in the US and a decrease in wages in low-income countries. That is the opposite of the desired effect and a negative outcome.

> Offer them all $1.

Everyone regardless of where they are gets payed the same. Am I understanding this correctly?

So, like I said in my area the minimum wage is $18.50/hr. So a multi-national company that has people tagging data in my area would pay a minimum of $18.50/hr. And under your proposed equal-pay-for-equal-work, if that company were to hire people in Nigeria to tag data they would _have_ to pay $18.50/hr. Correct?

Would that company have an incentive to outsource work to Nigeria if they had to pay people the same $18.50/hr? This is a country ranked 154/180 on the corruption index. It is the 17th least peaceful country and has far worse infrastructure relative to the US. I think these companies would be significantly less motivated to outsource jobs Nigeria if they can hire people locally for the same price. Would you agree? If you think that companies would be more or equally likely to outsource jobs to Nigeria if they wages were $18.50/hr please elaborate.

Far fewer jobs being outsourced to Nigeria, means less job opportunities for Nigerians and worse economic outcomes. Right?

If requiring equal-pay-for-equal-work leads to worse economic outcomes for Nigerians then isn't it a bad policy?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 per Hour to Ma... by ninjagoo on Thursday January 19, 2023 @12:37AM (#34437071)

Since you are so interested in reducing poverty and improving economic outcomes for those people abroad, what percentage of your first-world income/wealth are you sending to these impoverished regions? And for comparison, how does that amount compare to your donations to church and conservative causes?

Or am I confused and your concern only extends to reducing other people's (say for example less fortunate US women and unfortunate Nigerians) net income and definitely not your own income?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 per Hour to Ma... by joannanewsom on Thursday January 19, 2023 @01:01AM (#34437197)

I donate 5% of my income to Malaria Consortium and Clean Air Task Force. It could be more, but it's significant for me. I would encourage you to look at givewell.org and donate to help people living in extreme poverty.

I'm surprised you think I'm conservative. :)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 per Hour to Ma... by ninjagoo on Thursday January 19, 2023 @01:23AM (#34437318)

In that case, I apologize. I mistook genuine questions for obtuseness.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 per Hour to Ma... by ninjagoo on Thursday January 19, 2023 @01:19AM (#34437298)

Let's take a look at some of the other arguments on tap here:

1. We can't overlook infrastructure issues or regional stability if we have to pay $18.50/hr but if we can pay only $2/hr, sure, we'll turn a blind eye to that.

2. The only way to increase wages in low-income countries is to decrease wages in the US.

3. Multi-national companies, which by definition operate in many countries, would hire people only in the US if they had to pay the same wages everywhere, even though they supposedly "operate" in other countries. These operations outside the US would happen without any people outside the US.

4. It's ok for the company to get $18.50 worth of work but only pay Nigerians $2 for it, after all if they had to pay $18.50 for $18.50 worth of work, they would only pay that to US men. Why should they pay US Women or Nigerians the full value of that work. Hey, haven't you heard, women are unstable, Nigerians are unstable. They deserve less of the share of the value of the work they produce. For reasons.

[ Parent | on HN ]