Kenyan workers were paid to pretend they were AI chatbots for an Australian company
Turns out, not all those "AI" chats online are actually bots.
A recent investigation found that Michael Geoffrey Asia, living in Nairobi's Mathare slums, was hired by Australia's New Media Services to pose as an AI chatbot—handling romantic and explicit conversations while juggling multiple fake personas every day.
He had to keep up a fast pace and hit strict word counts, earning just five cents per message, and couldn't tell his family because of a strict NDA.
Why does this matter?
Asia's story highlights how real people are often behind supposedly "automated" services—and how gig workers in places like Kenya face tough conditions for little pay.
This isn't just about one guy: millions worldwide do stressful data jobs for tech companies, sometimes earning less than $2 an hour to label disturbing content or pretend to be AI.
It's a reminder that the digital world still runs on human effort—even when we can't see it.