Meta in row after workers who saw smart glasses users having sex lose jobs
Meta in row after workers who saw smart glasses users having sex lose jobs
Meta因员工目睹智能眼镜用户性行为并遭解雇而陷入争议
Meta is under pressure to explain why it cancelled a major contract with a company it was using to train AI, shortly after some of its Kenya-based workers alleged they had to view graphic content captured by Meta smart glasses. Meta目前正面临巨大压力，需要解释为何在肯尼亚员工声称被迫观看Meta智能眼镜拍摄的露骨内容后，迅速取消了与一家AI训练外包公司的重大合同。
In February, workers at the company, Sama, told two Swedish newspapers they had witnessed glasses users going to the toilet, and having sex. 今年2月，外包公司Sama的员工向两家瑞典报纸透露，他们曾目睹智能眼镜用户上厕所及进行性行为的画面。
Less than two months later, Meta ended its contract with Sama, which Sama said would result in 1,108 workers being made redundant. 不到两个月后，Meta终止了与Sama的合同。Sama表示，此举将导致1,108名员工被裁员。
Meta says it’s because Sama did not meet its standards, a criticism Sama rejects. A Kenyan workers’ organisation alleges Meta’s decision was caused by the staff speaking out. Meta称终止合同是因为Sama未达到其标准，但Sama否认了这一指控。一个肯尼亚工人组织则指控称，Meta此举是因为员工公开了相关内幕。
Meta has not addressed that allegation but told BBC News in a statement it had “decided to end our work with Sama because they don’t meet our standards”. Meta并未回应这一指控，但在给BBC新闻的一份声明中表示，公司“决定结束与Sama的合作，因为他们不符合我们的标准”。
Sama has defended its work. “Sama has consistently met the operational, security and quality standards required across our client engagements, including with Meta,” it said in a statement. “At no point were we notified of any failure to meet those standards, and we stand firmly behind the quality and integrity of our work.” Sama为其工作进行了辩护。该公司在声明中表示：“Sama始终达到包括Meta在内的所有客户所要求的运营、安全和质量标准。我们从未收到任何关于未达到这些标准的通知，我们坚定地支持我们工作的质量和诚信。”
‘Naked bodies’
“裸体”
In late February, Swedish newspapers Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) and Goteborgs-Posten (GP) published an investigation which included the accounts of unnamed workers who had been asked to review videos filmed by Meta’s glasses. “We see everything - from living rooms to naked bodies,” one worker reportedly said. 2月下旬，瑞典报纸《瑞典日报》(SvD) 和《哥德堡邮报》(GP) 发表了一项调查，其中包含了匿名员工的证词，他们曾被要求审核Meta智能眼镜拍摄的视频。据报道，一名员工称：“我们什么都看得到——从客厅到裸体。”
At the time of the publication, Meta admitted subcontracted workers might sometimes review content filmed on its smart glasses when people shared it with Meta AI. It said this was for the purpose of improving the customer experience, and was a common practice among other companies. 报道发布时，Meta承认当用户与Meta AI分享内容时，外包员工有时可能会审核智能眼镜拍摄的视频。Meta表示，这是为了改善客户体验，也是其他公司的常见做法。
However, the revelations have prompted regulators to act. Shortly after the Swedish investigation, the UK data watchdog, the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) wrote to Meta about what it called a “concerning” report. The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner in Kenya also announced it was commencing an investigation into privacy concerns raised by the glasses. 然而，这些披露促使监管机构采取了行动。在瑞典的调查发布后不久，英国数据监管机构——信息专员办公室 (ICO) 致信Meta，称该报告“令人担忧”。肯尼亚数据保护专员办公室也宣布，将对智能眼镜引发的隐私问题展开调查。
In a statement in response to news of the redundancies a Meta spokesperson told the BBC, “last month, we paused our work with Sama while we looked into these claims. We take them seriously. Photos and videos are private to users. Humans review AI content to improve product performance, for which we get clear user consent.” 在回应裁员消息的声明中，Meta发言人告诉BBC：“上个月，我们在调查这些指控时暂停了与Sama的合作。我们非常重视这些问题。照片和视频属于用户隐私。人工审核AI内容是为了提高产品性能，我们已获得明确的用户同意。”
‘Standards of secrecy’
“保密标准”
In September Meta unveiled a range of AI-powered glasses in partnership with brands Ray-Ban and Oakley. Features can include translating text, or responding to questions about what the user is looking at - particularly useful for those who are blind or partially sighted. However, as the devices have grown in popularity, so too have concerns about their misuse. 去年9月，Meta与雷朋 (Ray-Ban) 和欧克利 (Oakley) 品牌合作推出了一系列AI智能眼镜。其功能包括翻译文本或回答用户正在观察的事物相关问题，这对盲人或视障人士尤为有用。然而，随着这些设备越来越受欢迎，对其滥用的担忧也随之增加。
The workers the Swedish newspapers spoke to were data annotators, teaching Meta’s AI to interpret images by manually labelling content. The workers said they also reviewed transcripts of interactions with the AI to check it had answered questions adequately. 接受瑞典报纸采访的员工是数据标注员，他们通过手动标记内容来教导Meta的AI解读图像。员工们表示，他们还会审核与AI互动的文字记录，以检查AI是否准确回答了问题。
In one instance, a worker told the newspapers, a man’s glasses were left recording in a bedroom where they later filmed a woman, apparently the man’s wife, undressing. Meta’s glasses have a light in the corner of the frames that is turned on when the built-in camera is recording. But misuse of the glasses has also been linked to non-consensual recording of women in Kenya. 一名员工告诉报纸，曾发生过这样一件事：一名男子的眼镜在卧室里一直处于录制状态，随后拍到了该男子妻子脱衣服的画面。Meta的眼镜在镜框角落有一个指示灯，当内置摄像头录制时会亮起。但该眼镜的滥用也与肯尼亚女性被未经同意录像的事件有关。
Sama, a US headquartered outsourcing business, which began as a non-profit organisation with the aim of increasing employment through the provision of tech jobs, is now an “ethical” B-corp. But this is not the first time a contract with Meta has soured. An earlier deal to moderate Facebook posts attracted criticism, alongside legal action by former employees - some of whom described being exposed to graphic, traumatising content. 总部位于美国的Sama是一家外包企业，最初是一家旨在通过提供技术工作来增加就业的非营利组织，现在则是一家“道德”B型企业。但这并不是它与Meta的合同首次出现问题。此前一份关于审核Facebook帖子的协议曾引发批评，并遭到前员工的法律诉讼，其中一些员工描述称自己被迫接触了露骨且令人创伤的内容。
Naftali Wambalo of the Africa Tech Workers Movement, who is a petitioner in the continuing legal action around that case, told the BBC he had also spoken with workers involved in the smart glasses contract. Wambalo believed the reason for Meta’s ending the work was that it didn’t want workers speaking out about human workers sometimes reviewing content captured by the smart glasses. 非洲科技工作者运动的Naftali Wambalo是该案持续法律诉讼的请愿人之一，他告诉BBC，他也与参与智能眼镜合同的员工进行了交谈。Wambalo认为，Meta终止合作的原因是它不希望员工公开谈论人工审核智能眼镜拍摄内容的事实。
“What I think are the standards they are talking about here are standards of secrecy,” he told BBC News. The BBC has asked Meta to respond to this point. The tech giant has previously said that users were made aware of the possibility of human review in the its terms of service. “我认为他们所说的标准其实是保密标准，”他告诉BBC新闻。BBC已要求Meta对此作出回应。这家科技巨头此前曾表示，其服务条款中已告知用户存在人工审核的可能性。
Mercy Mutemi a lawyer representing the petitioners, who is also executive director of campaign group the Oversight Lab, said Meta’s statement should be a warning to the Kenyan government. “We’ve been told that this is our entry route into the AI ecosystem,” she told the BBC. “This is a very flimsy foundation to build your entire industry on.” 代表请愿人的律师、监督实验室 (Oversight Lab) 执行董事Mercy Mutemi表示，Meta的声明应该给肯尼亚政府敲响警钟。“我们被告知这是我们进入AI生态系统的途径，”她告诉BBC，“但这对于建立整个行业来说，是一个非常脆弱的基础。”