Scale AI, a prominent artificial intelligence startup based in San Francisco with a valuation of $13.8 billion and partnerships across the tech industry, is at the center of a class-action lawsuit. This legal action, filed by former contractor Steve McKinney in San Francisco Superior Court, accuses Scale AI and its top executives, including CEO Alexandr Wang, of engaging in wage theft and worker misclassification. The lawsuit alleges that Scale AI's success has been built on the exploitation of workers, citing practices such as unpaid labor, denied overtime, and unfair reassignments of contractors.
The complaint lodged by McKinney against Scale AI portrays the company's control over its contractors in a negative light, describing it as "Orwellian." It claims that Scale AI monitors workers using tools that take screenshots of their computer activities, penalizes them for exceeding estimated time limits for tasks, and shifts them to lower-paying projects. Moreover, the lawsuit argues that Scale AI has violated California's regulations regarding the classification of independent contractors, contending that workers like McKinney should be classified as employees. The legal action seeks class-action certification, restitution, punitive damages, and demands changes to Scale AI's worker classification model to address these alleged unfair labor practices.
Despite the allegations, a spokesperson for Scale AI, Tom Channick, stated that the company is committed to complying with all relevant laws and regulations. Channick highlighted that contractors working for Scale AI have the opportunity to earn flexible, supplemental income and significant sums. However, the lawsuit raises concerns about the darker aspects of the AI industry's exponential growth, highlighting disturbing and potentially traumatic tasks that contractors are sometimes assigned. For instance, McKinney's complaint includes claims that workers at Scale AI are tasked with projects involving distressing subject matter like responding to prompts related to extremely disturbing topics, such as "sexual intercourse with dead animals.