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Scale AI faces third lawsuit over alleged labor practices just over a monththis time from employees who claim they suffered psychological trauma from viewing disturbing content without adequate safeguards.
Scale, which was It was valued at 13.8 billion dollars last year it relies on workers it classifies as contractors to perform tasks such as evaluating AI model responses.
Earlier this monthformer employee sued, claiming he was actually paid less than minimum wage and misclassified as a contractor. A complaint regarding similar issues has also been received December 2024.
This final complaintis a class-action complaint filed on January 17 in the Northern District of California that focuses on alleged psychological harm suffered by six people who worked on Scale’s Outlier platform.
The plaintiffs allege that they were forced to write disturbing prescriptions about violence and abuse, including child abuse, without adequate psychological support, and that they were retaliated against when they sought mental health counseling. They say they were misled about the nature of the job during recruitment and that they ended up with mental health problems such as PTSD because of their work. They are seeking new safety standards, plus unspecified damages and attorneys’ fees, along with the creation of a medical monitoring program.
One of the plaintiffs, Steve McKinney, is the primary plaintiff in this separation December 2024 complaint Against Scale. The same law firm, Clarkson Law Firm of Malibu, Calif., represents the plaintiffs in both complaints.
Clarkson Law Firm previously filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft for allegedly using stolen data. was fired after being criticized by the district judge for its length and content. Scale AI spokesman Joe Osborne criticized the Clarkson Law Firm in reference to the case, saying Scale plans to “vigorously defend ourselves.”
“Clarkson Law Firm has previously – and unsuccessfully – gone after innovative technology companies with legal claims that have been unequivocally rejected in court. A federal court judge found that one of their previous complaints was “unnecessarily lengthy” and contained “substantially irrelevant, distracting or unnecessary information,” Osborne told TechCrunch.
Osborne said Scale complies with all laws and regulations and has “numerous safeguards” in place to protect its contributors, such as the ability to opt out at any time, advanced notification of sensitive content and access to health and wellness programs. Osborne added that Scale does not accept projects that may contain child sexual exploitation material.
In response, Clarkson Law Firm partner Glenn Danas told TechCrunch that Scale AI “forces employees to watch gruesome and violent content to train these AI models” and has failed to provide a safe workplace.
“We need to hold these big tech companies like Scale AI accountable or workers will continue to be exploited to train this unregulated technology for profit,” Danas said.
