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Marché Arends

@marche.bsky.social

Investigative Journalist 🇿🇦 2025 Pulitzer Center AI Accountabilty Fellow Read my work here: www.marchearends.com

70 Posts587 Follower910 Folgt
Andreu Belsunces Gonçalves@imaginaries.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The fourth article in our @hypestudies.bsky.social series at at @techpolicypress.bsky.social is out. Brilliant work by @marche.bsky.social and Kathy Cleary exposing how AI hype obfuscates the extractive practices behind training and labelling LLMs.

Justin Hendrix@justinhendrix.bsky.social · 4mo ago

What is marketed as AI “innovation” is, in practice, a consolidation of global labor hierarchies and a commodification of African knowledge, write Marché Arends and Kathryn Cleary, drawing on their year-long investigation supported by the Pulitzer Center and published by Africa Uncensored.

Marché Arends@marche.bsky.social · 4mo ago

New article out in @techpolicypress.bsky.social: 'How AI Hype Masks the Exploitation of African Workers' Read it here: tinyurl.com/4s2u68px AI hype isn’t marketing, it’s a cover story disguising exploitation as "progress" and reframing colonial extraction as "innovation". Let’s break it down 🧵

How AI Hype Masks the Exploitation of African Workers

AI is a consolidation of labor hierarchies, a plunder of African skills, and a commodification of African knowledge, write Marché Arends and Kathryn Cleary.

tinyurl.com

Marché Arends@marche.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Hi, I’m Marché - a freelance investigative journalist from South Africa. I’m injured, largely immobile, and fighting for a spinal surgery my medical aid refuses to pay for.

Marché is lying in bed, underneath a bed tray that is propping up a laptop up so she can see the screen and continue to work.
Marché Arends@marche.bsky.social · 9mo ago

I feel like everyone is under some kind of bullshit spell that makes them believe in (and defend) AGI. AGI ISN'T REAL AND CHASING IT IS CAUSING IMMEASURABLE HARM. Please, I beg of you, stop waiting for a unicorn. And also, for those who haven't heard: Santa isn't real either. 🙄 Ugh, I'm tired 🤦‍♀️

Marché Arends@marche.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Thanks @gijn.org and Hannah Duggal for including our story in this week's Top 10 Data Journalism column!

Global Investigative Journalism Network@gijn.org · 11mo ago

Africa Uncensored exposes how companies hire thousands as AI 'tutors' to train large language model responses (LLMs) — not to sustain livelihoods, but to look scalable to investors. In South Africa, many workers had no steady income despite the hype. https://twp.ai/kuqEIn @marche.bsky.social

Pulitzer Center@pulitzercenter.org · 11mo ago

Thousands of workers promised digital jobs are being used as collateral in Big Tech’s race to build “super-intelligent AI.” AI Fellows @marche.bsky.social and Kathryn Cleary reveal how workers are lured into jobs with no pay and no work. Story for Africa Uncensored. 👉 bit.ly/4ncZ7lQ

Fuelling the AGI Hype: The Recruitment Playbook To Land Big Tech Contracts

On the surface, the South African job market looks busy; scrolling through jobs on LinkedIn reveals hundreds, sometimes thousands, of job postings for “AI tutors” or “AI trainers” from micro-tasking.....

pulitzercenter.org

Tan Hui Yee@tanhuiyee.bsky.social · 11mo ago

"We employ the unemployable so be grateful you have a job." Great work by @marche.bsky.social on the hype behind "AI trainers" africauncensored.online/blog/2025/08...

Fuelling the AGI hype: The Recruitment Playbook to land Big Tech contracts - Africa Uncensored

An investigation into the mass recruitment of "AI Tutors" and "AI Trainers" by micro-tasking companies reveals the deceptive and exploitative practices that these companies use, with false promises of...

africauncensored.online

Marché Arends@marche.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Today, the investigation my reporting partner Kathryn Cleary and I have been working on for over a year is finally out in Africa Uncensored! africauncensored.online/blog/2025/08...

Fuelling the AGI hype: The Recruitment Playbook to land Big Tech contracts - Africa Uncensored

An investigation into the mass recruitment of "AI Tutors" and "AI Trainers" by micro-tasking companies reveals the deceptive and exploitative practices that these companies use, with false promises of...

africauncensored.online

Marché Arends@marche.bsky.social · last yr.

Trump is that creepy dude in the club who thinks eye contact is an invitation for harassment. He and my country (South Africa) are currently in a staring contest. So now feels like an appropriate time to read Project 2025 because that shit affects us all. A living 🧵 #Project2025CribNotes

Lindley's got summer@lindley.bsky.social · 2y ago

My stock image website is guaranteed AI-free, size inclusize, pays a living wage to creators and focuses on marginalized bodies: www.bodyliberationstock.com

A fat feminine body in silhouette with arms lifted against a mountain, lake and sunset sky. Text on top reads, Body Liberation Stock from Body Liberation Photos.
Ben Collins@bencollins.bsky.social · 2y ago

Hi! Quick note: The Onion accidentally posted a stock photo from a vendor with an AI generated image in it. We pulled the post down once we found that out. Our commitment to not using AI is very real. It's in the union contract to disclose it if we ever do. World is a slop minefield and we're sorry.

Angi Yoder-Maina, Phd 🇰🇪@angiyo.bsky.social · 2y ago

🧵 1/13 After decades of living and working in conflict zones, I need to share something crucial about what happens when governance systems collapse. This isn't abstract - it's a reality I've lived firsthand. Today is what they mean by to "hasten the collapse" (accelerationism 101).

Karen Hao@karenhao.bsky.social · 2y ago

As someone who has reported on AI for 7 years and covered China tech as well, I think the biggest lesson to be drawn from DeepSeek is the huge cracks it illustrates with the current dominant paradigm of AI development. A long thread. 1/