Today, Clarkson Law Firm, the prominent California-based public interest firm, filed a class action lawsuit in the Superior Court of California for the County of San Francisco against Scale AI and its subsidiaries. The suit, filed on behalf of a Scale AI worker representing himself and the class, alleges that Scale AI is misclassifying independent contractors responsible for the generative artificial intelligence boom by circumnavigating labor laws to force these workers to work extraneous hours and exploit them for monetary gain.
“Scale AI has built its business on a model of exploitation, relying on thousands of workers from across the globe to be paid less than a living wage to train AI applications for hours on end,” said Ryan Clarkson, managing partner of Clarkson Law Firm. “These workers operate under strict company control and are being cheated out of labor code protections. It’s unlawful and unacceptable.”
As AI continues to evolve rapidly, and with many large tech companies developing their own AI software, workers will continue to see themselves being exploited by these profit-hungry companies if AI technology and regulation are not held accountable. Tech giants like Open AI, Meta, and Alphabet are making billions of dollars off the backs of Scale AI workers who are working hundreds of hours of human labor with little pay and benefits while having no control over the projects they are assigned, reassigned, or removed from to ensure that these AI systems are capable of mimicking human expression.
“Scale AI sidesteps labor laws by purposefully misclassifying its workers as independent contractors and forcing them to meet impossible productivity demands, all while being constantly surveilled by a software that monitors their time and every keystroke,” said Glenn Danas, partner at Clarkson Law Firm. “And to add insult to injury, with no guidelines or support systems in place for these workers, Scale AI is forcing them to view gruesome content to train these AI models, which in return has greatly traumatized many of them. If companies like Scale AI are not held accountable, humans will continue to be exploited to train this unregulated technology for profit.”
As the complaint details, Scale AI maintains rigid control over its workers, demanding off-the-clock work for training and project familiarization, while swiftly retaliating against perceived infractions. If workers fail to comply with uncompensated demands or voice their concerns about working conditions, pay, or processes they are more likely to be terminated from their position.
The class action suit filed on behalf of a Scale AI worker, seeks to recover unpaid wages, overtime compensation, statutory penalties, injunctive relief, and other equitable remedies and damages under the California Labor Code. The complaint calls on Scale AI to stop this ongoing and unlawful practice and recover back the wages to which they are rightfully entitled.
