The Invisible (and Underpaid) Data Workers Behind the "Magic" of AI

The Invisible (and Underpaid) Data Workers Behind the "Magic" of AI

From The People's AI: The Decentralized AI Podcast by Jeff Wilser

December 3, 2025 · 45 min · Season 3 · Episode 2

About this episode

This episode explores the roles of underpaid data workers in the AI industry, featuring insights from former data worker Krystal Kauffman and AI researcher Graham Morehead.

Who are the invisible human data-workers behind the “magic” of AI, and what does their work really look like? In this episode of THE PEOPLE'S AI, presented by Vana, We pull back the curtain on AI data labeling, ghost work, and content moderation with former data worker and organizer Krystal Kauffman and AI researcher Graham Morehead. We hear how low-paid workers around the world train large language models, power RLHF safety systems, and scrub the worst content off the internet so the rest of...

People in this episode

Host: Jeff Wilser

Guests: Krystal Kauffman, Graham Morehead

Topics covered

  • data workers
  • AI
  • data labeling
  • ghost work
  • content moderation
  • large language models

Keywords

  • data labeling
  • AI workers
  • content moderation
  • RLHF
  • large language models
  • ghost work
  • low-paid workers

Sponsors

Vana

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