AI data-labelling programme falters, leaving rural Chinese mothers in crisis

A once-celebrated initiative to lift rural Chinese families out of poverty through AI data labelling is now in sharp decline. In Guizhou province’s Tongren city, where low-income mothers were trained to label AI datasets, the scheme has been hit by vanishing government subsidies and the rising technical demands of the industry. Launched in 2019, it initially offered opportunities to workers with little education, allowing them to earn above-average salaries while staying close to their families.