Scale AI rejects claims it illegally surveils AI-training workers

Oct 28 (Reuters) - Scale AI on Wednesday rejected the privacy complaints filed against it in four European countries as unfounded, saying its platform's practices were disclosed to workers and required their consent.

Privacy group noyb filed the complaints on Tuesday in France, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria, alleging Scale's Outlier platform illegally monitors more than 900,000 freelancers who produce training data for AI models, and asked regulators to fine the company.

• "The report's claims are unfounded and inaccurate," Scale said in an emailed statement to Reuters

• Scale said it uses standard tools to verify identities, prevent fraud, protect confidential project information and ensure accurate payments

• Contributors know their pay rates before accepting tasks and those rates reflect skills, project details and location, it added

• A company spokesperson said certain projects use a separate tool that records time spent and screen activity, which contributors opt into and manually activate before starting work

• Scale does not sell workers' personal data to third parties or use it to train customers' AI models, the spokesperson said

(Reporting by Leo Marchandon in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)