Editing Sweatshop (section)

==Contributing factors==
{{Multiple issues|{{Essay|date=April 2022|section}}
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===Fast fashion===
{{main|Fast fashion}}
A trend called "[[fast fashion]]" is believed to contribute towards the rise of sweatshops. Fast fashion refers to "rapid reorders and new orders that retailers now exert as they discern sales trends in real time" (Ross, 2015)<ref>{{cite web |last=Ross |first=R. J. S. |date=2015 |title=The high toll of fast fashion |work=Dissent |access-date=September 20, 2017 |url=https://www.dissentmagazine.org/blog/the-true-cost-review-fastfashion-rana-plaza-accord}}{{Dead link|date=June 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=no}}</ref> To keep up with the fast-changing trends and demands within the fashion industry, these fast-fashion brands have to react and arrange production accordingly. To lower production and storage costs, these brands outsource labour to other countries with low production costs which can produce orders in a short time. This may result in workers suffering from long working hours without reasonable payment. A documentary, "[[The True Cost]]" (2015), claims that sweatshops relieve pressure on retailers by passing it to factory owners and, ultimately, workers.

===Government corruption and inadequate labour protection legislation===
Government corruption and inadequate labour protection legislation in developing countries have also contributed to the suffering of their employees. Weak law enforcement has attracted outside investment in these developing countries, which is a serious problem generating sweatshops.{{cn|date=April 2022}} Without reasonable law restrictions, outside investors can set up fashion manufacturing plants at a lower cost. According to Zamen (2012), governments in developing countries often fail to enforce safety standards in local factories because of corruption and weak law enforcement.<ref name=Zamen>{{cite web |last=Zamen |first=I. |date=2012 |title=Corruption and the fate of the people who make your clothes |work=Transparency International |access-date=September 20, 2017 |url=http://blog.transparency.org/2012/12/07/corruption-and-the-fate-of-the-people-who-makeyour-clothes/ }}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> These circumstances allow factories to provide dangerous working conditions for workers. According to the Corruption Perception Index 2016 (2017),<ref>{{cite web |work=Transparency International |date=2017 |title=Corruption perception index 2016 |access-date=September 20, 2017 |url=https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_perceptions_index_2016}}</ref> those countries with a high risk of corruption such as Bangladesh, Vietnam, India,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mezzadri |first=Alessandra |title=The Sweatshop Regime: Labouring Bodies, Exploitation and Garments Made in India |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2017 |location=New York}}</ref> Pakistan and China are reported to have larger numbers of unsafe garment factories operating inside the countries. When Zamen (2012) said "corruption kills", sweatshops in developing countries would be the prime cases.<ref name=Zamen/>

In some places the government or media do not show the full picture. An example of this may be seen in Dubai where some labour camps do not have proper conditions for workers. If they protest, they can be deported if they are foreigners.<ref>{{Cite web|title=How did New York University uphold workers' rights during the construction and operation of its Abu Dhabi satellite campus?|url=https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/how-did-new-york-university-uphold-workers-rights-during-the-construction-and-operation-of-its-abu-dhabi-satellite-campus/ |access-date=2021-09-07|website=Business & Human Rights Resource Centre|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Batty |first=David |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/feb/10/migrants-united-arab-emirates-human-rights-watch|title=Migrants building UAE cultural hub 'risk abuse if they complain' |website=[[TheGuardian.com]]|date=10 February 2015}}</ref>

===Low education level===
It is suggested that these workers should fight back and protect their labour rights, yet a lot of them in developing countries are ignorant about their rights because of their low education levels. According to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics (2016),<ref>UNESCO Institute of Statistics, (2016) Population by minimum completed level of education.</ref> most of these sweatshops are located in countries that have low education levels. Harrison and Scorse mention that most of them do not know about their rights, such as matters about wages and supposed working conditions, thus they have no skill set to fight for their labour rights through collective bargaining (such as strikes or work to rule). Their lack of knowledge makes it hard for them to improve working conditions on their own.

===Artificial Intelligence===
The recent boom in [[Artificial Intelligence]] (AI) is a major contributor to the existence of sweatshops in the Global South. Workers in "digital sweatshops" differentiate images in videos to develop algorithms for automated driving, label images so AI can generate representations of politicians and celebrities, and edit text to ensure language models like [[ChatGPT]] do not produce poor answers.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |title=Behind the AI boom, an army of overseas workers in 'digital sweatshops' |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/28/scale-ai-remotasks-philippines-artificial-intelligence/ |access-date=2025-01-17}}</ref> The workers in these digital sweatshops are known as data workers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The hidden cost of AI: In conversation with Professor Mark Graham {{!}} University of Oxford |url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/features/hidden-cost-ai-conversation-professor-mark-graham |access-date=2025-01-17 |website=www.ox.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref> These digital sweatshops are often internet cafes, small office spaces, or homes full of many workers performing these repetitive tasks.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Philippines: Scale AI creating 'race to the bottom' as outsourced workers face 'digital sweatshop' conditions incl. low wages & withheld payments |url=https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/philippines-scale-ai-creating-race-to-the-bottom-as-outsourced-workers-face-poor-conditions-in-digital-sweatshops-incl-low-wages-withheld-payments/ |access-date=2025-01-17 |website=Business & Human Rights Resource Centre |language=en}}</ref>

More than 2 million people in [[Philippines|the Philippines]] perform this type of work supporting AI systems. The platform Remotasks, owned by [[Scale AI]], employs at least 10,000 workers in the Philippines. Workers are paid at extremely low rates, routinely delayed or withheld payments, and provided with few channels to seek recourse.<ref name=":0" /> Wages for these Filipino workers are far below the average Philippine minimum wages.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Philippines: Scale AI creating 'race to the bottom' as outsourced workers face 'digital sweatshop' conditions incl. low wages & withheld payments |url=https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/philippines-scale-ai-creating-race-to-the-bottom-as-outsourced-workers-face-poor-conditions-in-digital-sweatshops-incl-low-wages-withheld-payments/ |access-date=2025-01-17 |website=Business & Human Rights Resource Centre |language=en}}</ref>

[[Content moderation]] requires human workers to filter and sort images. Sama, a self-described "ethical AI" company, outsourced work to Kenya where workers were tasked to watch videos of murders, rapes, suicides, and child sexual abuse. Sama employees in Nairobi work as outsourced Facebook content moderators; they view and remove illegal or banned content from Facebook. The workers in this particular office are among the lowest-paid workers for Facebook earning as little as $1.50 an hour.<ref name=":1">{{Cite magazine |last=Perrigo |first=Billy |date=2022-02-14 |title=Inside Facebook's African Sweatshop |url=https://time.com/6147458/facebook-africa-content-moderation-employee-treatment/ |access-date=2025-01-17 |magazine=TIME |language=en}}</ref>

Data workers face barriers to redressing some labor issues in the AI industry. Because AI seems automated, few people imagine the human labor it takes to produce the automated results.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=The hidden cost of AI: In conversation with Professor Mark Graham {{!}} University of Oxford |url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/features/hidden-cost-ai-conversation-professor-mark-graham |access-date=2025-01-17 |website=www.ox.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref>