Key findings

1
8 lawsuits over the pay, classification or treatment of AI data workers were filed from 1 Jan 2023 to 31 Oct 2026; the latest step in any case was on 22 Oct 2026 (Boggs v. Stryder Corp.: case stayed pending mediation).
Figure 1
2
8 laws or regulatory steps touch this work, the latest on 19 Aug 2026: Kenya National Assembly passes outsourcing-liability amendments.
Figure 1
3
9 labour actions and layoffs of AI raters, tutors or annotators are recorded, the latest on 12 Sep 2025 (xAI lays off about 500 data annotators (generalist AI tutors)).
Figure 1
4
Scale AI is named in the most events (10: lawsuit, settlement, layoff and investigation).
Figure 3
5
2025 has the most events so far (13).
Figure 2

Figure 1

Lawsuits, rulings, investigations, regulation and labour actions

What legal and regulatory events concern the people who train AI, and where do they stand?

Event	Date	Kind	Where	What it is	Status
Boggs v. Stryder Corp.: case stayed pending mediationU.S. District Court, N.D. Cal. (via CourtListener RECAP)	22 Oct 2026	Lawsuit	US federal (N.D. Cal.)	On the parties' stipulation, Judge Thomas S. Hixson stayed the case during a mediation before Jill Sperber set for 4 Feb 2027 and vacated the 24 Dec 2026 case management conference. If the case is not resolved, the parties will ask the court to lift the stay, and the plaintiff will file an amended complaint within 30 days after that. Defendants expressly reserved their right to compel arbitration, and a joint status report is due 5 Feb 2027. Nothing has been decided on the merits.	Stayed pending mediation on 4 Feb 2027; joint status report due 5 Feb 2027; no ruling on the merits (as of 22 Oct 2026)
AI trainer misclassification suits: Bloomberg Law counts at least six pendingBloomberg Law	29 Sep 2026	Lawsuit	US	Bloomberg Law reports at least five misclassification suits from AI trainers pending in California courts and one in Texas, naming Meta-acquired Assured Robot Intelligence, Handshake AI and Mercor among those accused. It says California's ABC test presumes workers are employees and that the companies' own monitoring and performance data could become a flash point.	Reported as pending on 29 Sept 2026 (as of 29 Sep 2026)
Kenya National Assembly passes outsourcing-liability amendmentsBusiness Day	19 Aug 2026	Regulation	Kenya	The National Assembly passed the Business Laws amendments on outsourced-worker liability, after the High Court declined in June 2026 to intervene in workers' challenge, per Business Day. Business groups argued responsibility should largely remain with outsourcing companies; tech workers argued companies that control or benefit from their work should also be responsible.	Awaiting presidential assent (as of 25 Sep 2026)
Schuster v. Scale AI: voluntary dismissalU.S. District Court, N.D. Cal. (via CourtListener RECAP)	10 Aug 2026	Lawsuit	US federal (N.D. Cal.)	The six named plaintiffs filed a notice voluntarily dismissing their claims against Scale AI, Smart Ecosystem and Outlier AI under FRCP 41(a)(1)(A)(i), with prejudice as to themselves and without prejudice as to the putative class. The filing does not state whether any payment was made, and no court ruled on the merits.	Dismissed by plaintiffs (with prejudice as to named plaintiffs, without prejudice as to the putative class) (as of 10 Aug 2026)
McKinney v. Scale AI: $12.5 million class settlement (preliminary approval)McKinney v. Scale AI settlement website (Simpluris, settlement administrator)	24 Jul 2026	Settlement	US-CA	Defendants agreed to pay a $12,500,000 gross settlement to resolve related California class and PAGA actions by contributors who worked for Scale AI or Smart Ecosystem, or were placed by HireArt, while residing in California between 10 Dec 2020 and 28 Feb 2026. The court granted preliminary approval; defendants deny violating any laws and maintain contributors are independent contractors.	Preliminarily approved; opt-out and objection deadline was 3 Sept 2026; final approval hearing was set for 30 Oct 2026; no ruling found by 31 Oct 2026 (the settlement site still says the court has not decided) (as of 31 Oct 2026)
Digital Omnibus on AI delays AI Act high-risk requirements, including Article 10EUR-Lex (Official Journal of the European Union)	24 Jul 2026	Regulation	EU	Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 of 8 July 2026, published 24 July 2026, moves the application of the AI Act's high-risk requirements (Chapter III Sections 1 to 3, which include Article 10 data governance) from 2 August 2026 to 2 December 2027 for Annex III systems and 2 August 2028 for Annex I systems. It enters into force on the third day after publication.	In force (as of 24 Jul 2026)
Boggs v. Stryder Corp. (Handshake AI worker classification class action)U.S. District Court, N.D. Cal. (via CourtListener RECAP)	20 Jul 2026	Lawsuit	US federal (N.D. Cal.)	A worker who did AI training projects through Handshake AI filed a proposed class and collective action. The complaint alleges Handshake AI classifies its AI trainers as independent contractors while setting their pay, capping their weekly hours and requiring unpaid assessments, and claims unpaid minimum wages and overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act and California law, among thirteen counts. These are allegations; no court has decided them.	Stayed on 22 Oct 2026 pending a mediation set for 4 Feb 2027 (see next record); no ruling on the merits (as of 22 Oct 2026)
White v. Mercor.io (worker classification class action)U.S. District Court, N.D. Texas (via CourtListener)	8 May 2026	Lawsuit	US federal (N.D. Tex.)	A woman who did paid AI training work through Mercor filed a proposed nationwide class action. The amended complaint alleges Mercor misclassifies people doing AI training, data labeling, evaluation and related project work as independent contractors, with subclasses on unpaid work off its Insightful timekeeping tool and on Forms 1099-NEC, and asks among other things for a declaration of employee status for ERISA purposes, contract damages and restitution. These are allegations; no court has decided them.	Pending: amended complaint filed 25 Jun 2026; the last filing on the public docket is dated 31 Jul 2026; no ruling found (as of 31 Oct 2026)
Deboni v. Mercor.io and related suits (March 2026 data incident)U.S. District Court, N.D. California (via CourtListener)	1 Apr 2026	Lawsuit	US federal (N.D. Cal.)	Suits over Mercor's March 2026 data incident were filed from 1 April 2026 and related before the same federal court in California. On 20 July 2026 Mercor filed a stipulation to stay the proceedings pending the result of mediation. These are allegations; no court has decided them.	Stay pending mediation stipulated on 20 Jul 2026; the last filing on the public docket is dated 21 Jul 2026; no ruling found (as of 31 Oct 2026)
California AB 2013 training data transparency law takes effectCrowell & Moring LLP	1 Jan 2026	Regulation	US-CA	AB 2013 requires developers of generative AI systems for public use in California to publish a high-level summary of training data, covering items such as data sources, characteristics and collection and processing methods, for systems released or updated on or after 1 January 2022.	In effect (as of 8 Dec 2025)
xAI lays off about 500 data annotators (generalist AI tutors)TechCrunch	12 Sep 2025	Layoff	US	xAI ended the employment of about 500 members of its data-annotation team, about one-third of a 1,500-person team that labels data for Grok, in a shift away from generalist AI tutor roles toward specialist tutors, according to internal messages viewed by Business Insider.	Carried out (reported) (as of 13 Sep 2025)
EU AI Act general-purpose AI obligations apply (training content summary)EUR-Lex (Official Journal of the European Union)	2 Aug 2025	Regulation	EU	From 2 August 2025, Chapter V of the AI Act applies, under which providers of general-purpose AI models must publish a sufficiently detailed summary of the content used for training, following an AI Office template (Article 53(1)(d)).	Applicable (as of 10 Oct 2026)
GlobalLogic lays off more than 200 Google AI ratersWIRED	Aug 2025	Layoff	US	More than 200 contractors who evaluated and improved Google's AI products were laid off by GlobalLogic in at least two rounds, amid a dispute over pay and working conditions, according to WIRED. Two workers filed NLRB complaints alleging they were unfairly fired; Google said the workers are employees of GlobalLogic or its subcontractors.	Carried out (reported); NLRB complaints filed, outcome not found (as of 15 Sep 2025)
European Commission template for public summary of AI training contentEuropean Commission (Shaping Europe's digital future)	24 Jul 2025	Regulation	EU	The Commission published an explanatory notice and template setting a common minimal baseline for the public summary of training content that general-purpose AI model providers must publish under the AI Act.	Published (as of 24 Jul 2025)
Scale AI cuts 14% of staff and 500 contractorsTechCrunch	16 Jul 2025	Layoff	US	Scale AI laid off about 200 employees, roughly 14% of staff, and cut ties with about 500 global contractors, according to Bloomberg, a month after Meta hired Scale's CEO in a $14.3 billion deal. In a memo reported by Bloomberg, interim CEO Jason Droege told staff the company had scaled its core data-labeling business too quickly.	Carried out (as of 16 Jul 2025)
Surge AI worker classification class action (Cavalier)Bloomberg Law	20 May 2025	Lawsuit	US-CA	A data annotator filed a proposed class action in California state court alleging Surge AI deliberately misclassified its annotators as independent contractors. The complaint also alleges unpaid training and near-impossible task time limits that reduced pay; Surge AI did not respond to a request for comment, per the Los Angeles Times.	Filed; no ruling or settlement found (as of 21 May 2025)
Department of Labor drops Scale AI investigation (reported)TechCrunch	9 May 2025	Investigation	US federal	TechCrunch reported, citing a source familiar with the matter, that the DOL dropped its FLSA investigation of Scale AI. Upwork and HireArt, Scale's HR partners, confirmed they were also no longer being investigated; no reason for the closure was given.	Closed (reported) (as of 9 May 2025)
Global Trade Union Alliance of Content Moderators launchedUNI Global Union	30 Apr 2025	Labour action	Global (launched in Nairobi, Kenya)	Unions representing content moderators formed a global alliance at a Nairobi gathering of workers from nine countries, aiming to hold Big Tech responsible for low-wage, high-trauma jobs in their value chains. UNI says Alphabet, Meta, TikTok and others outsource moderation to companies such as Accenture and Telus.	Launched (as of 30 Apr 2025)
Schuster v. Scale AI: defendants move to compel arbitrationU.S. District Court, N.D. Cal. (via CourtListener RECAP)	2 Apr 2025	Lawsuit	US federal (N.D. Cal.)	Scale AI and Smart Ecosystem moved to compel arbitration of the Outlier contributors' claims. A later joint stipulation records that plaintiffs accept Scale produced data showing each plaintiff checked a box, while plaintiffs say they do not recall agreeing to any Terms of Use.	Hearing reset to 23 Sept 2025; no ruling on the motion found before the plaintiffs' voluntary dismissal (as of 10 Aug 2026)
US Department of Labor FLSA investigation of Scale AITechCrunch	6 Mar 2025	Investigation	US federal	TechCrunch reported that the Department of Labor was investigating Scale AI's compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, active since at least August 2024 according to a document it saw. The existence of an investigation does not establish wrongdoing.	Ongoing at the time; reported closed in May 2025 (see next record) (as of 6 Mar 2025)
Alphabet Workers Union NLRB charge against GlobalLogic (rater pay discussion)Fortune (Bloomberg)	18 Feb 2025	Labour action	US federal	The Alphabet Workers Union filed an NLRB case alleging GlobalLogic barred discussion of wages in internal forums and fired rater Ricardo Levario for raising pay issues. The union said GlobalLogic manages about 1,800 workers doing rating, labeling and training for Google's AI products.	Filed; outcome not found (as of 18 Feb 2025)
Schuster v. Scale AI (psychological harm class action)TechCrunch	17 Jan 2025	Lawsuit	US federal (N.D. Cal.)	Six Outlier contributors filed a proposed class action alleging negligence and unfair competition. The complaint alleges they were required to write disturbing prompts about violence and abuse without adequate psychological support and seeks a medical monitoring program; Scale said it would defend itself vigorously.	Voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiffs on 10 Aug 2026 (see separate record) (as of 10 Aug 2026)
Rogowicz v. Scale AI (PAGA wage and classification claim)TechCrunch	3 Jan 2025	Lawsuit	US-CA	A former Outlier worker filed a representative suit under California's Private Attorneys General Act. The suit alleges Scale misclassified her as a contractor and that her pay effectively worked out to $15 an hour, below the state minimum wage at the time; Scale told TechCrunch it paid her fairly and complies with the law.	Filed; no later source found that states this case's outcome (as of 9 Jan 2025)
McKinney v. Scale AI (worker classification class action)TechCrunch	10 Dec 2024	Lawsuit	US-CA	A former Scale AI contributor filed a proposed class action in San Francisco Superior Court. The complaint alleges Scale AI and its subsidiaries misclassified workers as independent contractors and failed to pay minimum wage, overtime and training time, according to the filing law firm.	Settled: a $12.5 million class and PAGA settlement was preliminarily approved; the final approval hearing was set for 30 Oct 2026; the settlement site still said on 31 Oct 2026 that the court had not decided (see settlement record) (as of 31 Oct 2026)
Kenya Business Laws (Amendment) Bill 2024: outsourcing (BPO) liability provisionsBusiness Day	11 Nov 2024	Regulation	Kenya	The bill proposed rules for Kenya's outsourcing industry, including who carries responsibility for workers employed by outsourcing companies. On 9 Dec 2024 President Ruto publicly said Sama had approached him about its legal troubles and that the law had been changed, while the bill was still before parliament, per Business Day.	Passed by the National Assembly on 19 Aug 2026; awaiting presidential assent (see 2026 record) (as of 25 Sep 2026)
EU Platform Work Directive (EU) 2024/2831: transposition by 2 Dec 2026EUR-Lex (Official Journal of the European Union)	11 Nov 2024	Regulation	EU	The directive creates a rebuttable legal presumption of an employment relationship for persons performing platform work where facts indicate direction and control, and covers work organised through digital labour platforms whether performed online or in a location. Member States must transpose it by 2 December 2026; whether a given AI-training marketplace is covered depends on national law and facts.	Transposition deadline 2 Dec 2026 (as of 10 Oct 2026)
Kenya Court of Appeal: Meta can be sued over Sama moderators' claimsBusiness Day	20 Sep 2024	Ruling	Kenya	Kenya's Court of Appeal rejected Meta's argument that Kenyan courts lacked jurisdiction, upholding rulings that let former Sama moderators' cases against Meta proceed. The merits remain undecided; the ex-moderators seek $1.6 billion, per TechCabal.	Cases proceed; merits pending (as of 25 Sep 2026)
EU AI Act Article 10: data governance including annotation and labellingEUR-Lex (Official Journal of the European Union)	12 Jul 2024	Regulation	EU	Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 requires high-risk AI systems trained on data to use training, validation and testing data sets meeting quality criteria, with data governance practices covering data-preparation operations such as annotation and labelling. Published 12 July 2024; it enters into force on the twentieth day after publication.	In force; Article 10 (Chapter III Section 2) applies from 2 Dec 2027 (Annex III systems) and 2 Aug 2028 (Annex I systems) after the Digital Omnibus on AI (as of 24 Jul 2026)
Remotasks discontinued in Kenya, Nigeria and PakistanRest of World	7 Mar 2024	Layoff	Kenya; Nigeria; Pakistan	Scale AI's Remotasks platform shut down in Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan and stopped new sign-ups in Thailand, Vietnam and Poland, according to Rest of World. Scale cited enhanced security protocols and attributed the lack of notice in Kenya to an administrative error.	Carried out (reported) (as of 28 Mar 2024)
Google terminates Appen contract (rater and AI data projects)Appen Limited (ASX announcement; PDF copy hosted by PPC Land)	22 Jan 2024	Layoff	Global (Appen, ASX-listed)	Appen announced that Google would terminate its global inbound services contract, ending all projects with Appen by 19 March 2024; Appen's FY23 revenue from Google was $82.8m. The announcement does not state how many contractors were affected.	Contract ended by 19 Mar 2024 (as announced) (as of 22 Jan 2024)
Kenyan AI workers petition National Assembly over OpenAI and Sama workTechCrunch	14 Jul 2023	Labour action	Kenya	Kenyan workers who labelled harmful content for ChatGPT through Sama petitioned lawmakers to investigate Big Tech outsourcing of content moderation and AI work in Kenya, including the nature and conditions of the work.	Filed; outcome not found (as of 14 Jul 2023)
Kenyan labour court rules Meta can face trial over moderators' dismissalsThe Eastleigh Voice (AFP)	Apr 2023	Ruling	Kenya	A Kenyan labour court ruled in April 2023 that Meta could face trial over the dismissal of content moderators employed through Sama; Meta appealed and the Court of Appeal upheld the ruling in September 2024.	Upheld on appeal (Sept 2024) (as of 21 Sep 2024)
Former Sama moderators sue Meta, Sama and Majorel over dismissalsBusiness Day	Mar 2023	Lawsuit	Kenya	Former Facebook content moderators employed by Sama brought a case in March 2023 (43 moderators, per Business Day), arguing that Meta, which benefited from and controlled aspects of their work, should also be held responsible. Later reporting describes about 185 to 187 claimants seeking $1.6 billion.	Pending (merits undecided as of the latest source) (as of 25 Sep 2026)
Kenyan court rules Meta can be sued over moderators' working conditionsThe Eastleigh Voice (AFP)	Feb 2023	Ruling	Kenya	A Kenyan court ruled in February 2023 that Meta could be sued in Kenya over alleged poor working conditions of outsourced content moderators; Meta appealed and the Court of Appeal upheld the ruling in September 2024.	Upheld on appeal (Sept 2024); merits pending as of that report (as of 21 Sep 2024)
Sama exits Meta content moderation, 200 jobs cutTechCrunch	10 Jan 2023	Layoff	Kenya	Sama said it would exit content review services and concentrate on data labeling (computer vision annotation), with 200 employees, 3% of its team, let go, according to TechCrunch.	Announced (as of 10 Jan 2023)

Sample. 35 events from 1 Jan 2023 to 31 Oct 2026, each from the court record, agency, legislation or outlet linked beside it.

An allegation in a complaint is a claim, not a finding: the status says what a court or agency has decided, as of the date given.

Compiled by. AITraining.jobs Research, Lawsuits, Regulation and Labour Actions in AI Training Work, October 2026 edition.

Figure 2

Events by year and kind

Is legal and regulatory activity around AI data work growing?

Year	Lawsuit	Regulation	Settlement	Layoff	Investigation	Labour action	Ruling	All
2023	1	0	0	1	0	1	2	5
2024	1	3	0	2	0	0	1	7
2025	4	2	0	3	2	2	0	13
2026Small sample	6	3	1	0	0	0	0	10

Sample. The same 35 events, by the year they happened.

The current year runs to the review date.

Compiled by. AITraining.jobs Research, Lawsuits, Regulation and Labour Actions in AI Training Work, October 2026 edition.

Figure 3

Events by company

Which companies are named in the most events?

Company	Events	Kinds	Latest
Scale AI	10	lawsuit, settlement, layoff and investigation	10 Aug 2026
Meta	8	regulation, labour action, ruling, lawsuit and layoff	19 Aug 2026
Sama	8	regulation, ruling, labour action, lawsuit and layoff	19 Aug 2026
Outlier	5	lawsuit	10 Aug 2026
Google	4	layoff and labour action	Aug 2025
Handshake	3	lawsuit	22 Oct 2026
Mercor	3	lawsuit	29 Sep 2026
GlobalLogic	2	layoff and labour action	Aug 2025
HireArt	2	settlement and investigation	24 Jul 2026
Majorel	2	ruling and lawsuit	20 Sep 2024
Remotasks	2	lawsuit and layoff	10 Dec 2024
Accenture	1	labour action	30 Apr 2025
Appen	1	layoff	22 Jan 2024
OpenAI	1	labour action	14 Jul 2023
Surge AI	1	lawsuit	20 May 2025
TELUS Digital	1	labour action	30 Apr 2025
TikTok	1	labour action	30 Apr 2025
Upwork	1	investigation	9 May 2025
xAI	1	layoff	12 Sep 2025

Sample. Events naming a company, from 1 Jan 2023 to 31 Oct 2026. An event naming two companies counts for both.

Compiled by. AITraining.jobs Research, Lawsuits, Regulation and Labour Actions in AI Training Work, October 2026 edition.

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Method and definitions

Court records, agency announcements, official journals and reporting by major outlets, each linked beside its event. Every row links the publication it is taken from, with the figure as that publication states it; nothing is estimated or converted. Each figure states what it includes beneath it.

Lawsuit: A complaint filed in court. What it alleges is a claim, not a finding; later steps in the same case (a motion, a dismissal, a settlement) are listed as their own events.
Ruling and settlement: A court's decision, or a settlement as approved or announced.
Investigation: An inquiry by a labour or other agency, as announced or reported.
Regulation: A law, directive or official guidance that governs training data or platform work, dated when it was adopted or takes effect.
Labour action and layoff: A petition, union filing or campaign by data workers, and documented mass cuts of raters, tutors or annotators.
Status: Where the event stands according to the latest source found, with that source's date.

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Compiled from public sources: an event that was never announced or reported is missing, and private companies' figures are what they or the press stated, not audited.
Cases settled privately or sent to arbitration may never publish an outcome, so a status can stay open.
Content-moderation cases are included where the same companies and workers do AI data work; the tracker does not cover every labour case in the outsourcing industry.

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The live report is the dataset as last reviewed; new events are added as they are published. Each complete month is also published as an edition, frozen two days after the month ends, so a figure you cite from an edition never moves.

Live dataAs last reviewed
October 2026 edition (this page)Frozen 11 Nov 2026

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Free to quote, chart and republish under CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) with a link to this page. This edition is frozen, so its figures will read the same later.

Citation

AITraining.jobs (2026). Lawsuits, Regulation and Labour Actions in AI Training Work, October 2026 edition. https://cyberjobs.cc/research/ai-training-work-legal-tracker/2026-10

BibTeX

@misc{aitrainingjobs_ai_training_work_legal_tracker_2026_10,
  author = {{AITraining.jobs}},
  title = {Lawsuits, Regulation and Labour Actions in AI Training Work, October 2026 edition},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://cyberjobs.cc/research/ai-training-work-legal-tracker/2026-10}},
}

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