A new UNCTAD report exposes the harsh reality for Kenya’s AI developers, who face exploitative and unstable working conditions, enduring up to 10-hour workdays for wages below Ksh 259 ($2) per hour.
The report, which also lists Uganda as one of the countries where developed work in difficult conditions, says that since AI systems require continuous adaptation and, as they are employed to address new challenges, the demand for workers for their development will likely persist, they can provide new forms of employment, but this is not necessarily “decent” work.
It adds that data annotators in developing countries, including Kenya, often work for up to 10 hours of work per day at wages of less than Ksh 259 (US$2) per hour, engaged in repetitive tasks, and with limited opportunities for career advancement.
“With regard to content moderation (e.g. of social media posts), algorithms or machine-learning systems can help flag data for human attention. This process may be harmful for workers,” the Technology and Innovation Report 2025 says.
The report cites previous research showing that in monitoring content online, workers may be exposed to disturbing or objectionable material that could negatively affect mental health. There is also a risk of deskilling and dissatisfaction due to mismatches between qualifications and tasks. Workers annotating or deleting images, that is, carrying out repetitive low-skill tasks, may be highly educated.
“In India and Kenya, for example, a survey conducted in 2022 on microtask platforms and business process outsourcing companies showed that highly educated workers, with graduate degrees or specialised educations in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, were often relegated to relatively low-skill tasks such as text and image annotation and content moderation,” it says.
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), such significant wastes of human capital may be exacerbated in increasingly connected job markets, in which tasks are outsourced globally. The report shows that Kenya is among the countries fastest increase in AI developers, at 40 per cent, alongside Nigeria and Ghana, which have become promising hubs for technology companies.
