Scale AI is facing its third lawsuit over alleged labor practices in only over a month, this time from employees who claim they suffered psychological trauma in consequence of reviewing disturbing content without adequate safeguards.
Scale, which was valued at $13.8 billion last yr, relies on employees it classifies as contractors to handle tasks akin to evaluating the responses of AI models.
Earlier this month, a former employee sued, alleging that she was effectively paid below minimum wage and misclassified as a contractor. A criticism was also filed regarding similar issues December 2024.
The Final criticismfiled on January 17 within the Northern District of California, is a category motion lawsuit that focuses on the psychological harm allegedly suffered by six individuals who worked on the Scale platform Outlier.
The plaintiffs allege they were forced to jot down disturbing solicitations about violence and abuse – including child abuse – without adequate psychological support, and suffered retaliation after they sought psychological counseling. They say they were misled concerning the nature of the job when hired and have experienced mental health issues akin to post-traumatic stress disorder in consequence of their work. They are demanding the creation of a medical monitoring program and latest safety standards, in addition to unspecified damages and legal fees.
One of the plaintiffs, Steve McKinney, is the lead plaintiff on this individual case Complaint dated December 2024 against scale. The same law firm, Clarkson Law Firm of Malibu, California, is representing the plaintiffs in each lawsuits.
Clarkson Law Firm previously filed a category motion lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft over their alleged use of stolen data – a lawsuit dismissed after being criticized by a district judge for its length and content. Citing that case, Joe Osborne, a spokesman for Scale AI, criticized the Clarkson law firm and said Scale plans to “vigorously defend us.”
“Clarkson Law Firm has previously – and unsuccessfully – pursued progressive technology firms with legal claims that were summarily dismissed in court. A federal judge found that considered one of their previous complaints was “unnecessarily long” and contained “largely irrelevant, distracting or superfluous information,” Osborne told TechCrunch.
Osborne said Scale complies with all laws and regulations and has “quite a few safeguards” in place to guard its contributors, akin to the flexibility to unsubscribe at any time, advance notice of sensitive content and access to health and wellness programs. Osborne added that Scale doesn’t tackle projects which will contain child sexual abuse material.
In response, Glenn Danas, partner at law firm Clarkson, told TechCrunch that Scale AI “forced employees to observe gruesome and violent content to coach these AI models” and did not ensure a protected workplace.
“We must hold these big tech firms like Scale AI accountable or employees will proceed to be exploited to coach this unregulated technology for profit,” Danas said.
