The key facts

  • Noyb files two complaints in Austria and one each in France, the Netherlands and Italy
  • According to Noyb, Outlier uses more than 900,000 freelancers; clients include Meta, OpenAI, Google and the US government
  • The complaints concern trackers on workers' devices and biometric verification through the company Persona

Five complaints against Scale AI

The European digital rights center known as Noyb announced on Tuesday, October 27, that it had filed five legal complaints against the American startup Scale AI: two in Austria and one each in France, the Netherlands and Italy. The complaints concern how the company's training platform Outlier monitors workers and the lack of safeguards under the freelance-contract model that Scale AI uses to hire staff. Euronews reported this, citing the organization's statement.

What exactly Noyb claims

The Outlier AI platform recruits freelancers and subject-matter experts to train, evaluate and improve AI models, using a platform-employment model similar to Uber and food delivery services. According to Noyb, more than 900,000 freelancers work through the platform, and its clients include Meta, OpenAI, Google and the US government. The organization claims that while working on Outlier, trackers from TikTok, LinkedIn and Facebook are installed on workers' devices, gaining access to personal data, including IP addresses, contact details and information used for targeted advertising and profiling. 'Why should LinkedIn or Facebook even know what tasks you are working on?' said Noyb lawyer Lisa Steinfein Leiser. The organization also claims that Scale AI forces workers to repeatedly undergo biometric verification through the company Persona, which involves video recording of the face and uploading an identity document. In Noyb's view, 'such large-scale workplace surveillance clearly violates workers' fundamental right to data protection.' These claims remain, for now, the complainant's position rather than established facts.

Context: different approaches to AI regulation

The complaints come amid growing scrutiny of AI companies in Europe: the EU AI Office this month opened investigations into OpenAI and Anthropic. At the same time, as Euronews notes, in the US President Donald Trump signed an agreement with six major American AI companies allowing them to regulate their own activities — the outlet sees this as a sign of growing disagreements over the global governance of the technology. Thus, the case against Scale AI unfolds against the backdrop of opposing approaches on the two sides of the Atlantic: investigations in the EU and self-regulation in the US.