Home

We are receiving an unsettling wave of reports from readers in Georgia, Florida, Texas, and Kansas City describing the same disturbing phenomenon, a loud humming or droning sound in the ears, often accompanied by dizziness, headaches, disorientation, memory fog, and even emotional swings.

These are not random complaints. They are coming in from multiple states, spanning hundreds of miles, yet carrying eerily similar descriptions.

A persistent low-frequency hum or vibration in the ears

No obvious external sound source

Episodes lasting minutes to hours

Symptoms sometimes worsening at night or during specific hours

In some cases, sudden anxiety spikes, intrusive thoughts, or violent imagery

Why This Matters

We have reason to believe that this is not “in people’s heads” and it is not a coincidence.

Theories emerging from independent researchers and whistleblowers point toward directed frequency devices. These can be stationary, mobile, or satellite-based, capable of targeting specific geographic areas or even individuals.

Such devices have been used historically and experimentally for:

PsyOps and psychological manipulation, influencing emotions, behaviors, and thought patterns

Subverting awareness of Truth, fogging critical thinking, reducing focus, and dulling discernment

Triggering MK Ultra-style programming, conditioning individuals for specific actions, including potential mass violence or chaos events

A Chilling Possibilit

The timing is suspicious. As truth continues to surface at breakneck speed, we are now seeing tools of disruption and destabilization deployed not in foreign war zones, but right here at home.

If the reports are accurate, these frequency pulses could serve dual purposes.

1. Suppress the awakening of the population by dulling clarity and spreading confusion
2. Activate programmed individuals to create the kind of random chaos events that justify new government controls

Adding to the urgency, drones are still being spotted around the nuclear power plant in Salem, New Jersey, an alarming and underreported development. Whether this activity is related to surveillance, sabotage planning, or frequency transmission is unclear, but its persistence should raise red flags nationwide.

What You Can Do Right Now

Document everything. Note the time, date, location, symptoms, and any environmental details.

Talk to others nearby to see if they are experiencing similar effects.

Check for patterns such as times of day, weather changes, or nearby events.

Reduce exposure. If possible, move to a different area temporarily to see if symptoms ease.

Stay grounded. These technologies work best when the mind is in a state of fear or confusion.

Practical Tip: A Faraday cage can block certain frequencies from reaching devices and in some cases, the human body. If the noise becomes overwhelming, try wrapping yourself in a foil emergency blanket available at most outdoor or survival supply stores. This is a long shot, but if the noises calm or lessen, it may indicate you are being hit with a targeted frequency. It is worth trying for your own comfort and safety.

We will continue monitoring these reports closely. If you have experienced this humming noise, the accompanying symptoms, or have visual confirmation of drone activity especially near sensitive infrastructure, please reach out through secure channels. Your accounts could be critical in mapping and confirming the reach of these operations.

Stay aware. Stay anchored. The battle is no longer just for hearts and minds, it is for the very frequencies of your thoughts.

Sanctuaries or Shields?

For centuries, churches in America have stood as sacred institutions, places of guidance, repentance, and hope. Beneath the marble columns and stained-glass windows, stories of abuse, silence, and systemic failure have unraveled public trust in some of the country’s most respected spiritual leaders.

More than just isolated incidents, a pattern emerges: abuse covered up, victims dismissed, and institutions choosing self-preservation over transparency. And in the darkest corners of public imagination, and conspiracy forums, even more sinister acts are known; underground tunnels, trafficking rings, underground bunkers, reports of underground cities and covert alliances with figures of power.

When money and influence collide with unchecked power, it becomes possible, even easy, to look away.

What We Know – The Documented Failures

The Catholic Church’s Reckoning

In 2002, The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team unearthed what the Church had tried to hide: decades of abuse across the Archdiocese of Boston, shielded by a culture of silence. Since then, similar reports have emerged across the country.

In 2018, a Pennsylvania grand jury detailed abuse by over 300 priests and identified more than 1,000 victims, calling it a “systematic cover-up.” Survivors told stories of spiritual manipulation, threats of damnation, and the use of confession as a tool of grooming.

Despite Vatican policies introduced in the aftermath, implementation remains inconsistent. Some dioceses publish lists of credibly accused priests. Others remain opaque.

Evangelical and Protestant Churches: A Quieter Crisis

In 2019, The Houston Chronicle exposed the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) for its widespread sexual abuse problem, identifying more than 700 victims and over 380 pastors and volunteers accused of misconduct.

Due to the decentralized structure of many evangelical churches, background checks are inconsistent, and expelled pastors can move freely to new congregations with little to no scrutiny. Survivors report being silenced, shunned, or even blamed.

🔥 Famous Names and Familiar Patterns

• Tony Alamo: Convicted in 2009 for transporting underage girls across state lines for sex, the once-influential evangelist ran a multimillion-dollar religious compound. He used scripture to justify his abuse.

• Doug Phillips: Founder of Vision Forum Ministries, accused of grooming and sexual abuse, settled out of court. His teachings on “biblical patriarchy” shaped thousands of Christian homeschooling households.

• Eddie Long: A megachurch pastor accused by multiple young men of sexual coercion. Cases were settled, and Long denied wrongdoing, but the damage to his ministry’s legacy remains.

These aren’t fringe figures. They were broadcast into homes, led nationwide conferences, and held political sway.

The Appearance of Respectability

Investigators and survivors repeatedly describe a disturbing pattern: abusers often surround themselves with legitimacy. Political endorsements, television appearances, charity initiatives, and close ties to law enforcement or elected officials all contribute to a shield of public trust.

This is not incidental. It’s strategic.

“The more power they gain, the more invisible they become,” says Jane Monahan, a former church employee who blew the whistle on abuse in a Texas congregation. “They donate to police departments, invite mayors to pray. By the time a child speaks up, no one believes them.”

In trafficking investigations globally, not just in religious cases, it’s common to find that someone with political, religious, or celebrity status serves as a front, giving operations the illusion of credibility and moral authority.

The Economics of Exploitation

The financial scale of human trafficking often surprises even seasoned investigators.

According to the International Labour Organization, trafficking for sexual exploitation generates over $99 billion annually, nearly double the global drug trade in some regions.

Unlike drugs, which are sold once, a child can be sold multiple times a day, making each victim far more profitable over time.

This reality drives home a chilling equation: the younger the victim, the higher the market value. For traffickers and those who protect them, the industry offers not just wealth, but leverage.

• Money buys power

• Power buys influence

• Influence ensures silence

When such profits flow into religious institutions, whether knowingly or through criminal infiltration, the lines between sacred mission and shadow economy become dangerously blurred.

What It Would Take to Hide It

While no direct evidence is known by the public, that ties major U.S. churches to trafficking rings involving tunnels or smuggling operations, survivors point to how easily it happens given the right conditions.

Financial Opacity

Most churches are tax-exempt and receive large, often untraceable, cash donations. With few legal requirements for disclosure or external audits, it’s difficult to follow the money.

Structural Protection

Top-down authority, internal investigations, and social pressure to avoid “dividing the body of Christ” create a natural shield against scrutiny. Whistleblowers are often demonized.

Weaponized Theology

Many survivors describe how abusers used scripture to justify exploitation, or to silence them afterward. Forgiveness is demanded. Speaking out is seen as rebellion.

The Power Loop

The scale of trafficking revenue means more than criminal profit, it enables protection:

• Donations to law enforcement or political campaigns

• Legal firepower to suppress lawsuits

• PR machines that spin accusations as persecution

What’s Being Done – And What Isn’t

✅ Some Progress

• The SBC has created a sex abuse hotline and published a list of known offenders.

• Certain Catholic dioceses now post names of credibly accused clergy.

• Independent churches are beginning to partner with third-party auditors.

❌ Not Enough

• Statutes of limitations still limit justice for many survivors.

• Most churches investigate internally, with no legal oversight.

• Victims often face stigma, disbelief, and exile from their spiritual communities.

Faith Demands Accountability

We don’t need tunnels or urban legends to justify concern. The facts are already disturbing enough: widespread abuse, repeated cover-ups, and multi-billion-dollar incentives to keep quiet.

Churches are meant to be sanctuaries. But when wealth, secrecy, and power combine, they can become fortresses instead, protecting perpetrators, not the people they serve.

If trust is to be restored, it won’t come through sermons or soundbites. It will come through radical transparency, survivor-led reform, and the moral courage to speak truth from the pulpit, even when it shakes the altar. Soon a shaking will occur, that wealth cannot stop.

“Take for yourself a red heifer without defect…” — Numbers 19:2

Earlier this month, on a quiet hill in Samaria, a red heifer was slaughtered and burned under rabbinic supervision. This was an event unseen in Israel for nearly 2,000 years. Officially, it was a “practice run,” symbolic, educational, and a logistical rehearsal.

But what if it wasn’t?

What if what we witnessed was not a symbolic rehearsal, but the first real step toward restoring Temple worship? What if this marked the opening act of a prophetic drama, one whose next scene could involve not only the construction of the Third Temple, but also the rise of the Antichrist?

A Ceremony With Prophetic Weight

In Numbers 19, the Torah outlines the strange and sacred ritual of the red heifer, burned to produce ashes used to purify those who have come into contact with death. These ashes are essential for achieving the ritual purity required to enter the Temple.

This ritual has not been performed since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. According to Jewish tradition, there have only been nine valid red heifer sacrifices throughout history. The tenth, according to rabbinic commentary, will occur in the days of the Messiah.

So when Israeli religious authorities quietly burn a red heifer in 2025, it becomes difficult to see it as merely symbolic. Even if they insist the animal was disqualified, the prophetic momentum behind the event is very real.

What If It Wasn’t Practice?

Let’s consider for a moment what might be true behind the scenes.

What if the red heifer was actually fit according to biblical standards? What if the claim of “disqualification” was a strategic public label, designed to avoid political or religious backlash? What if the ceremony was conducted not as a dry run, but as a quiet and deliberate first step?

If that were the case, then this event is not just notable, it is historic.

A true red heifer sacrifice would mean that the long-awaited purification ritual has been reinstated. And according to both Jewish and Christian prophecy, this could initiate a chain of events that changes the world.

Are We Witnessing the Ushering in of the Antichrist?

This is where Christian eschatology becomes particularly urgent.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, Paul describes the “man of lawlessness,” understood by many as the Antichrist. He will one day sit in the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem, proclaiming himself to be God. However, that Temple cannot be rebuilt until the site, and the priests, are ritually purified using the ashes of a red heifer.

In other words, without the red heifer, there can be no Temple. And without the Temple, the Antichrist cannot rise in the way Scripture describes.

If this ceremony was the real thing, then it could be the first domino to fall in a prophetic sequence. First, the red heifer sacrifice restores purity. Then, Temple Mount preparations accelerate. Eventually, the Third Temple is rebuilt. And finally, the Antichrist appears, deceives many, and desecrates the sanctuary with what Scripture calls the “abomination of desolation.”

This raises the question, are we witnessing the rise of the Messiah, or the rise of his counterfeit?

This question will become increasingly difficult to ignore.

A Tipping Point Moment

Even if we accept the official story that this was only a rehearsal, the spiritual and psychological significance of the event cannot be overstated. What was once confined to theology books and prophecy conferences is now unfolding in real time, on Israeli soil, and in our generation.

We are entering a period in which prophetic symbols are being activated, religious intentions are being backed by real-world action, and the distinction between preparation and fulfillment is becoming less clear.

Whether you are a believer in biblical prophecy or a skeptical observer of religious movements, one fact remains. Something historic just happened.

A red heifer was burned in Israel. Regardless of how it is being publicly framed, a threshold has been crossed.

So we must ask again, what if it wasn’t just practice? And even more urgently, are we now seeing the stage being set for the appearance of the Antichrist?

Because if that is the case, then the next chapter will not be a rehearsal. It will be the book of Revelation coming to life.

What do you think? Are we closer to the Messiah, or on the brink of deception? Let’s discuss in the comments.

As generative AI booms, an invisible workforce powers its rise – and pays the price. Platforms like Outlier.ai, DataAnnotation.tech, Remotasks (Scale AI), and industry veteran Appen promise freelance “AI trainers” flexible, high-paying work to help build advanced models. “

Earn up to $40 an hour… teaching AI models how to write,” one Outlier recruitment message said​.

But behind the ads and testimonials lies a very different reality. Workers on these platforms describe algorithmic scoring systems that misjudge their work, mysterious account bans with no explanation, weeks of unpaid training, impossible task deadlines and being treated as disposable cogs in an AI assembly line. Support and accountability are non-existent – many freelancers have to turn to Reddit forums, LinkedIn posts or even lawsuits to get answers.

This investigative report goes beyond Outlier to show how the whole ecosystem of AI data annotation sites operates on the same tactics. DataAnnotation.tech, a platform run by Surge AI (serving clients like Anthropic and Microsoft) , and others like Remotasks (Scale AI’s gig-work arm for OpenAI, Meta, etc.​inc.com) and Appen (a long-time data crowdsourcing firm) all do the same.

We’ll hear directly from contributors – via Reddit threads, Medium stories, LinkedIn posts, BBB complaints, Glassdoor/Indeed reviews – to see the human cost of training our machines.

The AI Boom’s Invisible Workforce

Building an AI chatbot or image generator isn’t just about clever algorithms – it requires millions of human-labeled examples and constant human feedback. This work, known as data annotation, involves a range of tasks: writing or correcting model answers, labeling images or text, crafting prompts and responses, ranking outputs by quality, and flagging errors or toxic content. 

“Workers complete tasks such as writing and coding, which tech companies then use to develop AI systems,” explains TIME, noting many AI models rely on supervised learning with labeled data​time.com.

Even cutting-edge “unsupervised” models often need a final human fine-tuning step. In other words, without legions of human annotators, large language models and generative AI would not achieve their impressive feats.

This work is usually outsourced to online platforms. Some, like Amazon Mechanical Turk or Upwork, operate openly. But many AI firms prefer stealth. Scale AI, for example, channels gig workers into Remotasks, a separate, worker-facing site​time.com. Likewise, Surge AI reportedly runs Taskup.ai, DataAnnotation.tech, and Gethybrid.io as its crowd platforms​time.com. 

“Companies say secrecy is to protect sensitive R&D,” notes researcher Milagros Miceli, “but they also prefer secrecy because it reduces the chances they will be linked to potentially exploitative conditions.”

In practice, this means tech giants like OpenAI, Meta, Google, Anthropic, and Microsoft have an opaque supply chain of human labor labeling data behind their AI – often in far-flung countries with cheap labor and scant oversight.

The people doing this work are typically hired as independent contractors, paid by task or hour with no benefits or job security. Many are educated professionals or domain experts drawn by the promise of remote, flexible work in their field of knowledge.

“Outlier is a platform where experts in various fields…help build the world’s most advanced AI,” its site proclaims​. Indeed, platforms seek out linguists, coders, writers, physicians, you name it – anyone who can help train AI in specialized areas.

In theory, it’s a new kind of high-skilled gig work. In reality, contributors often find themselves performing repetitive, rigidly controlled micro-tasks under intense surveillance. As we’ll see, the same technology they help improve is used to monitor and judge their every move.

Algorithmic Scoring: When AI Judges the Experts

One of the most common grievances across these platforms is the use of AI-driven or algorithmic scoring systems to evaluate contributor performance. Instead of consistent human oversight or feedback, workers are at the mercy of automated metrics that often misjudge quality and ignore human expertise.

On Outlier, for example, every task you submit is graded, and your “quality score” determines whether you can continue working. 

“Instructions were extremely precise – a single misstep in formatting or failing to label an answer properly could lower my quality score,” wrote Shubhojeet Dey about his stint with Outlier​.

If the score dips too low, *“I would be kicked off the project”*​medium.com. Under such strict conditions, even highly knowledgeable contributors can be ousted over trivial issues.

A PhD-level contributor might craft a correct solution but get a low score for using an unexpected format or exceeding some arbitrary length. The system leaves no room for nuance or expert judgment – if you don’t match the hidden algorithmic criteria, you’re out.These scoring algorithms also create perverse incentives. Outlier tasks, for instance, impose tight time limits and then penalize workers for working “too slow.” 

“Some tasks pay a ‘primary rate’ for a standard time limit. If you exceed that time, you earn a lower ‘secondary rate,’” Dey discovered​medium.com. In practice, this means a project advertised at $35/hour might drop to effectively $20/hour if you take your time to ensure quality​.

Rushing might keep your pay higher, but risks mistakes that tank your quality score – a Catch-22. Multiple reviewers have noted how Outlier’s pay system is tied to speed: “They want you to put in full-time hours… although they state ‘work when you want’,” one Glassdoor review observed, adding that “training is unpaid and often opaque.”

(In one case, a worker was even accused of using AI tools to do her task simply because she took an hour to carefully correct the model’s output, resulting in an automated 1/5 review and flag for supposed cheating.)

On Remotasks and Appen, algorithmic scoring is equally unforgiving. Appen’s search engine rating projects famously require raters to maintain an accuracy score (based on hidden gold-standard judgments); if your score falls below ~85%, you’re simply removed from the project – often without human appeal.

“Fired… no reason that I was told,” said one Appen web search rater, who called the company “a total scam and ripoff of your valuable time.”.

He had passed a difficult exam and worked diligently, only to be auto-terminated by the algorithm.

On Remotasks, too, low “accuracy” or client rating can trigger a suspension. Yet workers often receive little feedback on what they did “wrong,” making these systems feel arbitrary and unjust.

As one expert told TIME, these sites lean on “algorithmic management to keep their costs low,” which *“can result in the poor treatment that many workers experience.”

Errors or not, the platform can always find another contractor waiting in the wings.

Perhaps most emblematic is an Outlier project that tasked experts with “red-teaming” an AI – essentially trying to make the AI fail – under an impossible time crunch. Contributors were told to come up with prompts that expose the model’s weaknesses (e.g. producing harmful or nonsensical output) within just one hour.

According to multiple worker accounts, only a tiny fraction of participants managed to succeed; the rest “failed” the task and saw their quality ratings plummet. Ironically, those who did have deep expertise and a careful approach often refused to cut corners or submit half-baked prompts just to meet the timer – and were weeded out for it.

One Reddit contributor dryly observed that Outlier’s combination of tight time limits, constant retraining requirements, and pay rate cuts was “really becoming impractical”. 

“Outlier is not the only AI training platform I am on, so I am well aware that a lot of these issues are just par for the course,” they added – a telling statement on industry-wide practices​.

Silent Removals and Shadowbans

In a traditional job, if you underperform or violate a rule, you get warnings, perhaps a chance to correct course, or at least an explanation if you’re fired. On these AI gig platforms, workers often simply vanish from the system with zero explanation – a practice akin to shadowbanning or silent removal.

One day you’re working on tasks; the next day you’re locked out of your account or no new work appears, with no message from the company. Consider the experience of an educator on DataAnnotation.tech (a Surge AI site).

After diligently working on the platform and even being told they passed the initial assessment, they suddenly stopped receiving any tasks at all. Eventually they discovered their account had been deactivated – with $2,869 worth of completed work left unpaid​. 

“I emailed the companies’ support contacts, but did not hear back,” the worker reported in frustration​. There was no explanation, no appeal; the door was just quietly shut.

Another contributor on a Surge-run platform recounted a similar story on Reddit: *“IME [In my experience] paid out $800 then my account disappeared with $2869 work sitting unapproved. Absolutely zero contact/reply from their support…”. Nearly $3k of his labor evaporated without a trace or response.

Outlier workers have faced the same. Multiple reviews on Glassdoor and Indeed describe accounts getting *“suspended”*or “disabled” out of the blue. One Indeed review titled “account banned for no reason” from April 2025 tells of a contributor who had “given my full patience to this platform” only to be accused by the system of “using third party software or automation tools”, resulting in instant account disablement​indeed.com. “The fact is I never do that… I only use a laptop and a phone (for the camera),” the person laments​indeed.com.

Similar stories abound on Reddit: “Out of the blue a week ago my account was suspended for violating their TOS with zero explanation. I’m always EXTREMELY careful not to do anything wrong,” wrote one Remotasks user​.

Others were flagged for having “multiple accounts” or “misrepresentation” with no evidence provided​.

This opaque ban hammer doesn’t just cut off future work – it often steals earned wages. A common allegation is that platforms intentionally suspend workers right before a payout is due. 

“Scam company that will suspend your account so they don’t have to pay you for hours accrued,” one Glassdoor reviewer warned, claiming Outlier would “string [you] along” and then drop you​.

On the Better Business Bureau, a November 2024 complaint from an Outlier contributor details how their account was suspended for alleged guideline violations (which they denied), and that Outlier refused to pay $525 owed for their services​.

The user offered to provide proof of their innocence, “yet they want to take away my hustle,” they wrote, noting that even after “investigation,” Outlier support still wouldn’t release the funds​. The BBB lists this case’s status as Unanswered, reflecting Outlier’s lack of response​.

Even less dramatic scenarios feel like shadowbanning. Contributors often describe being “EQ’ed” (put in an endless Evaluation Queue) or simply not receiving new projects without explanation​.

One day you have tasks; the next, the dashboard is blank. “Our system is unable to find a project for you… Please contact support,” read the message one Outlier freelancer saw after finishing a few tasks​.

He reached out and *“now I am waiting to hear back… not holding my breath.”*​glassdoor.co.nz In many cases, support never responds at all.

As one veteran worker observed, “there is no transparency about [gig] worker relations” – management simply does not communicate​indeed.com.

This silent treatment extends to internal communication channels too. Outlier uses a private Discourse forum for project discussions; multiple workers reported being locked out of all forums and chats without notice after completing certain tasks​bbb.org​bbb.org.

“Losing access to all communication channels and history… wiped clean without my consent,”one person described, saying projects and even direct messages vanished overnight​.

It’s as if the companies want to erase any trace of the worker’s involvement the moment they decide to cut ties. The psychological toll of this sudden, silent ostracization is not trivial: 

“This prolonged absence of communication has resulted in emotional distress that could easily be alleviated with a simple acknowledgment or update,” the BBB complainant wrote, “Instead, I am left without support or guidance.”

Unpaid Onboarding and Unrealistic Tests

Before a contributor ever earns a dime, they typically must clear a gauntlet of onboarding steps, exams, and training modules – almost always unpaid. The length and complexity of these qualifications have ballooned as companies try to ensure “quality” (or filter out people unwilling to work for pennies).

The result is that many workers invest hours or even days of labor up front with no guarantee of any pay at all.

A BBB complaint against Outlier from late 2024 illustrates this “work-for-free” onboarding in detail. “Since joining Outlier, I have dedicated hundreds of unpaid hours to onboarding processes, training tutorials, assessment tasks, and project-specific modules,” the contributor wrote​.

For every project, Outlier required a lengthy sequence: hours-long tutorials and webinars, extremely long guideline documents to read, lengthy training videos, followed by quizzes and exams on all that material​bbb.org. The complainant counted “over 80 onboarding processes, tutorials, and assessment tasks” they had completed for various projects – all unpaid​.

In some cases, the “assessment tasks” were indistinguishable from real paid tasks, yet were compensated at only “a fraction of the offered hourly rate.” (In other words, the platform got essentially free labor by having newcomers do actual work as their “test.”)

Worst of all, this user experienced projects that “disappeared entirely” after they finished all required onboarding, meaning all that effort was for nothing​bbb.org. It’s hard to imagine a more blatant example of dangling a carrot and then snatching it away.

Outlier is not alone. Remotasks’ training center requires users to pass a series of courses and exams before paid work opens up. “To access a paying task, I first had to complete an associated (unpaid) intro course,” a journalist who signed up for Remotasks reported​.

Every specialization – say, labeling autonomous vehicle sensor data – had its own multi-hour tutorial and test. If the project ended or you failed the exam, tough luck. 

“Annotators spend hours reading instructions and completing unpaid trainings only to do a dozen tasks and then have the project end,” The Verge found, describing Remotasks’ feast-or-famine workflow.

One Kenyan Remotasks worker said he avoided certain tasks entirely because the training was long and the pay too low to be worth it​.

Appen too requires unpaid training. Many Appen contractors recall spending 20+ hours reading dense guidelines and taking a tough exam (sometimes split into 3 parts over several days) for roles like search engine evaluator – all unpaid. Those who fail simply get a form email weeks later, if that. “If a user isn’t accepted… they typically don’t hear anything after completion of the assessment,” TIME notes as a common scenario​time.com​. Even those who pass may sit idle for weeks before any paying task appears. “I was accepted… then my recruiter disappeared,” reads one Glassdoor review titled in frustration​.

The pattern is clear: these platforms demand free labor up-front, calling it “assessment” or “training.” Some workers tolerate it hoping it pays off. Others call it out as a scam. “They seek highly educated people under false pretenses for unpaid and nonexistent work,” one angry reviewer wrote, saying Outlier “lies and gaslights you”through the process​. Another simply states: *“Training is unpaid and doesn’t cover what you actually need to do.”*​glassdoor.com – after all that prep, you’re still thrown into tasks that differ from what was taught.

In some cases, workers do everything right in onboarding and still see little or no reward. “I have been working for [DataAnnotation] a couple of months now and made a couple thousand bucks. They test and train all kinds of AI,” one Reddit user posted, *“It’s definitely not a scam!”. But others on DataAnnotation report a long wait after passing the test with no projects. 

“I was told I passed the assessment, but then never got any tasks,” is a common refrain.

The luck of the draw can determine if you start earning or just end up in limbo.Even when onboarding leads to paid work, initial pay rates don’t hold. Several Outlier contributors describe a bait-and-switch after training. 

“Before completing the onboarding process, I was promised $25/hour… after a few training modules (long, redundant, unhelpful), it showed I would be making $15/hr,” wrote one worker​glassdoor.co.nz.

They worked nearly 2 hours and earned only $17 total – far below minimum wage when you include the training time. Then the system promptly ran out of tasks and locked them out with a tech support message​glassdoor.co.nz. Others mention being offered higher pay for specialized tasks (e.g. $40/hr for psychology content), only to rarely or never get those tasks, effectively putting them on $10–15/hr general duties instead​medium.com​medium.com. It’s as if the platform sets an “up to $X/hour” headline rate to attract skilled applicants, then funnels most people into far lower effective pay once they’ve sunk time into onboarding.

To make matters worse, some tasks have unrealistic time or difficulty constraints clearly designed to winnow out the workforce. The aforementioned Outlier “make the AI fail in one hour” mission is one example. Another is the Remotasks “Traffic Direction” project reported by The Verge, which required workers to interpret aerial images for self-driving car training – a notoriously complex task – yet paid only around $1–2 per hour in Kenya​. 

“Everyone knew to stay away from that one: too tricky, bad pay, not worth it,” one annotator said​.

These companies seem to have no qualms about setting up challenges that only a minuscule fraction of workers can succeed at under the constraints given. The rest either fail (providing free data in the attempt) or quit in frustration – filtering out those who won’t endure near-impossible demands.

Churn and Burn: Disposable Workers by Design

Behind all these practices is a mindset that treats contributors as disposable labor, fueling a constant churn of new sign-ups to replace those cast aside. Rather than cultivating a stable pool of experienced annotators, the platforms operate a high-turnover model more akin to a digital sweatshop assembly line.

The sheer scale of hiring is telling. Outlier, a startup barely known a year ago, had “nearly 5,000 available jobs on Glassdoor” earlier this year as it recruited en masse​inc.com. 

“They hire thousands to work on limited projects,” one Glassdoor review revealed bluntly​.

Many of those projects end or dry up quickly, at which point those thousands of workers may be left with nothing – or find themselves axed over minor infractions as discussed. “The work is uneven… Training and feedback are a joke,” that same review added, highlighting chaotic management​.

This churn is highly profitable for the platform owners. Scale AI (Remotasks/Outlier’s parent) and Surge AI (DataAnnotation’s parent) can brag about having huge on-demand workforces to win contracts from AI clients, yet keep individuals at arm’s length.

If a project needs 1,000 annotators for two weeks, they spin up 1,000 new “freelancers.” When it’s done, most will get no further work or will be trimmed down to a small core for maintenance – the rest effectively laid off (without ever being considered employees to begin with).

In fact, Scale AI and Outlier were hit with a class-action lawsuit alleging they illegally misclassified workers and laid off 500 people without notice or severance in August 2023 when projects slowed​. Gig workers have no protections under labor law’s WARN Act, but plaintiffs argue they functioned as full-time employees in all but name. The geographic distribution of labor also encourages a “race to the bottom.”

These platforms recruit globally, finding ever-cheaper pools of labor. A LinkedIn post by Analytics India Magazine blew the whistle on how Outlier (Scale AI) was paying Indian engineers as little as $7.50 per hour while advertising $40/hr for U.S. workers doing the same job. Payment delays to non-US workers were common, it said, and called it *“the dark side of AI development.”

Scale AI’s billions in venture funding and lucrative contracts stand in jarring contrast to its gig workers in India, Kenya, the Philippines or Venezuela making a few dollars an hour labeling data​. 

The Register noted that by late 2022, Kenyan Remotasks workers saw their pay drop to just $1–3 per hour, even as U.S. annotators on similar tasks made $15–25. When workers in higher-paying regions push back or leave, the platform simply shifts more work to lower-cost regions. This constant churn and wage arbitrage keeps costs low – and workers perpetually insecure.

Performance surveillance further underscores the disposability. Every click, keystroke, and submission is tracked. The moment productivity dips or errors rise, the system flags you. Workers describe feeling like they’re always one mistake away from being removed, with no human manager to hear them out. 

“People will literally put up with it because they know jobs are scarce,” one Reddit commenter noted.

“The crappy thing is [the platforms] know people don’t have a lot of job options right now and that’s why they likely do it.”

Fear and desperation become management tools in lieu of fair pay or support. Why invest in any single worker when another hundred are signing up tomorrow? As long as the AI companies keep needing more labeled data, the platforms will keep cycling through human labelers in an endless on-boarding, churn-out process. In the words of one disillusioned Glassdoor reviewer,

“I can’t find any hope for their future due to this poor… management.”

No Accountability:

Workers Left to Crowdsource Their SurvivalIf there is one theme that ties all these threads together, it is the complete lack of accountability and communication from the platforms to the workforce. Contributors find themselves in a feedback void: when things go wrong, the company is a brick wall. Outlier’s BBB profile shows multiple complaints marked “Unanswered” – the business simply never responded to the disputes​bbb.org. 

“Management, if it exists, does not communicate,”wrote an Indeed reviewer of DataAnnotation (or perhaps Appen), *“there is no transparency about… relations.”*​

In practical terms, support tickets disappear into a black hole.

One BBB complainant waited five days, then two weeks with no response to urgent support inquiries about her locked account​. “My inquiries seem to be ignored for unknown reasons,” she wrote, noting this was *“contrary to standard business practices.”*​bbb.org That’s putting it mildly – in any normal job, being unable to log in and not getting help for weeks would be unthinkable.

Because official channels are unresponsive or unhelpful, workers are forced to crowdsource help and information.

The Outlier AI subreddit (r/outlier_ai) has over 3,600 members who regularly share tips, complain about issues and alert each other to red flags​inc.com​inc.com. 

“Difficulty in getting paid, arduous onboarding processes…and uncertainty regarding Outlier’s legitimacy,” are common topics, Inc. magazine observed of the subreddit discussions​inc.com​inc.com.

On these forums and on platforms like Reddit’s r/WorkOnline or r/WFHJobs, you’ll find hundreds of threads about Remotasks suspensions, DataAnnotation account issues, Appen no-work dilemmas, and more.

Often, the only “support reps” who answer are fellow workers who may have figured out a workaround or just offer commiseration. In some cases, exasperated workers turn to Twitter/X or LinkedIn posts to publicly shame the company, hoping to get a response.

(Outlier’s own Twitter account is empty, but replies to its tweets show users asking why they were banned or unpaid – with no reply). Even the Better Business Bureau and media inquiries sometimes get no response – Surge AI declined to comment to TIME​.com, and Outlier/Scale AI gave only generic statements when asked.

This lack of communication extends to the work itself. Because of NDAs and secrecy, contributors often don’t even know which company’s AI product they are building – they are given code names and siloed tasks​.

And they’re told not to tell anyone about their work​. This isolates workers and makes collective action or even sharing “best practices” difficult (which, of course, benefits the platforms).

 In the absence of official information, rumor fills the void. Workers speculate on why a project ended or why a ban happened, trading anecdotes on Discord or WhatsApp groups. (Remotasks workers in Nairobi coordinate via unofficial WhatsApp groups to alert each other when a good-paying task becomes available​.)

It’s an almost Kafkaesque environment where the true intentions and operations of the employer are obscured, leaving workers to guess at how to stay in good standing.

All of this serves to minimize the platforms’ accountability. If no one can pin down why they were fired or who made the call, it’s hard to hold the company responsible. If workers are scattered globally and can only share stories on Reddit, it’s hard to organize or demand better conditions.

And the platforms’ clients – the big tech companies – maintain plausible deniability about the labor issues, since they contract the work out to these middleman services.

As Privacy International noted, the vast scale of labeled data needed for AI has led companies to spread the work across many countries and contractors, “with cheaper and more [workers]” in each, making abuses harder to track​. The result is a diffuse, atomized workforce with no leverage, at the mercy of each platform’s internal algorithms and policies.

From the perspective of Silicon Valley, this system has been a huge success: AI models get better and better, costs stay low and labor issues are out of sight, behind layers of outsourcing. But for the people on the other side of the screen, these AI training platforms are a new kind of digital sweatshop – one that harnesses human intelligence while denying human dignity.

The stories of Outlier, DataAnnotation.tech, Remotasks, Appen and others show a pattern of luring skilled workers into the AI boom with promises of high pay and flexibility, only to subject them to old-fashioned exploitation: unpaid work, erratic pay, constant surveillance, sudden terminations and zero voice or recourse.

It’s bitterly ironic that the same companies touting “AI for good” and revolutionary tech are, behind closed doors, running a playbook of labor practices worthy of the 19th century. The very algorithms these workers help refine are being used to manage and discard them. And the “AI boom” that promises to augment human potential is being built on a foundation of treating human workers as machine-like inputs – easily switched on and off.

The hidden exploitation of AI’s gig platforms calls into question the true cost of our smart new world. As we marvel at chatbots that can write poetry or cars that can (almost) drive themselves, it’s worth remembering the real intelligence behind these feats: the thousands of human contributors, clicking for hours in anonymity, uncredited and underpaid.

Bringing this labor out of the shadows is the first step towards reform. Regulators and AI companies need to acknowledge that quality AI isn’t possible without quality treatment of the people training it. Some are calling for transparency reports and labor standards for data annotation, just as there are for supply chains in manufacturing​theregister.com​theregister.com. Others advocate collective organizing of gig annotators across platforms.

At a minimum, these workers deserve fair pay for all hours worked (including training), clear communication and due process, and mental health support for the disturbing content some must handle​. The alternative is to continue down the path we’re on – where the human cost of AI remains hidden in a cloud of NDAs and algorithms, and the people best equipped to improve AI are driven away by poor conditions. The next time you see an AI in action, think of the people in the shadows.

Allow me a moment to preface what I want to say with a disclaimer. That is, I hate politics. Oh, I know I’ve written about politics in the past, talking about the actions of one politician or another and how that might affect you and I; but I certainly didn’t do that out of any love for politics or the political process. I’ve spent all my life voting against candidates, more than voting for them, because I really haven’t seen all that many candidates who truly embodied my beliefs. So, I find myself voting against the one who is furthest from where I stand, by voting for the other one. What a crazy way to run a railroad.

Watching this news can change your life…

This is not to say that I am against democracy, even though we’re not one (we’re a constitutional republic, which is not the same thing). Nor am I against our country. We’re still the greatest country on the face of the earth, despite our flaws. We didn’t become greatest by eliminating our flaws, but because our flaws pale in comparison to other countries, both past and present. We’re far from perfect, but at least we’re working on it.

Nonetheless, even though I hate politics, I see the need for it. One has to look no further than the many examples of countries where governments have fallen, to see the need for politics. Even with all it gets wrong, it is the political process that allows us to live together under a set of laws that have been created with the intent of treating all people equally.

As I look at the political landscape today, I can’t help but think that if there’s anything that will tear this country apart, it’s politics. We find ourselves living in a time where the political divide (which has always existed) is deeper and wider than ever before. Most people, on both sides, live in an echo chamber, only listening to voices which parrot their own political thoughts. The idea that I grew up with, that both sides sit down at the table and find a middle ground which works for everyone, is long gone.

We are probably headed towards another civil war and it will be just as ugly as the last one was. That one was over political issues as well (slavery was a political issue in those days). The big difference is that the lines between the two sides won’t be as clean cut as they were before. That will likely lead to many non-combatants falling victim to the battle. But the biggest casualty will be our nation itself.

What happens when that system collapses?

There have been a fair number of examples of political and economic collapse that we can find in history. Almost universally, the lack of a solid political system has led to anarchy, with warlords rising up to take control. Those warlords strive to gain territory, fighting between themselves for supremacy. Through that, it is the innocent people in the population who suffer.

It’s kind of funny that our news media even tries to make some of these warlords look good. They are no better off than a barbarian chieftain who invades and conquers. The occasional acts of mercy they might display are carefully crafted to make them look good, often with some personal benefit to the warlord at the same time. They are takers, even more so than our current crop of politicians.

There are many of us who look all but look forward with anticipation to a societal collapse. We want a release from the oppressive burden of our political overlords and want to put our survival knowledge to work, living as we’ve always dreamed; self-sufficient masters of our own fate.

Sadly, that’s a false image. While we would have to put our survival skills to use and be self-sufficient, we wouldn’t be living in an ideal world. That is, unless you happen to have the keys to the lost valley of Shanga La. Rather, we would find ourselves living in the midst of gang warfare, with constant battles all around. If any of the warring factions even suspected that we had a stockpile of supplies, they would attack us, over and over again, until they killed us. I know you probably think you can survive that; think again… there are more of them, than there are of us.

So, what’s the answer?

The more I’ve studied this out, the more I’ve realized that part of our survival strategy has to be the restoration of local government; the quicker, the better. I’m not sure yet what to do about higher levels of government and I’m not really all that sure that we can do anything; but if we want to live in any semblance of peace, we’re going to have to do something at the local level.

That means someone stepping up to take the place of leading the people, while talking about the need to reestablish the local government. If you and I don’t do that, someone will; and we might not be all that happy about who that someone is. They might be those very same warlords that I’m talking about avoiding and they might be socialist politicians, who are going to come after us, just because we have resources they need to redistribute, in order to make themselves look good. Either way, it won’t be good for us if they get into power.

According to NASA, we’re going to face a 100-YEAR LONG DROUGHT.

That leaves us with two viable options. The first is to take power ourselves and the second is to get behind someone we can trust, helping them to take power. The problem with supporting someone else, of course, is that we don’t really know how much we can trust them. Even our best friend could turn against us, wanting to redistribute our stockpile in order to garner political favor, as soon as they realize they don’t need us anymore.

Start in Your Neighborhood

The first place to start any rebuilding of the government is right there where you are. I’ve written before about working together with neighbors in a time of crisis. Being the one who brings order to your neighborhood and ensures your neighbors’ survival will naturally put you in a position of leadership within your neighborhood. As word gets out and more people join your neighborhood survival team, that leadership will naturally spread to include a broader area.

This won’t be hard to accomplish, as most people will be looking for some sort of leadership to rise up and tell them what to do. Your challenge in this case will be to make people realize that any help you offer comes with a price tag. That is, they’re going to have to work for the betterment of the survival group, doing their part to help make sure that everyone survives, even if that work is something that they consider to be beneath them.

Considering today’s entitlement society, this may be harder than it sounds. There will likely be plenty of people around, who are expecting the government to take care of them. These people may look at you as the government, even before there is any government in place, and thing that they are entitled to whatever help you can give them. the easy solution to that problem, is to just kick them out of the group. When they come back, and they likely will, they need to sign on the dotted line, indicating they understand that they need to work in order to receive anything.

Reestablish Law and Order

The main reason we need any government at all, is the establishment of law and order. While the federal government we have today may have gone far beyond this point, pretty much everything they do, especially all the overreaching regulations, can be described as a way of maintaining law and order. It’s just whether or not one accepts their right to have control over the things they are writing laws and regulations about.

On a much more basic level, laws aren’t about how much carbon dioxide a company can produce, but about whether or not one person can do harm to another. Theft, vandalism, rape and murder are all clear cases of one person doing something that brings harm to someone else. we need law enforcement to capture those who commit those acts and the court system to try and sentence them for committing those crimes.

At its core, our laws are based on the Old Testament Law established in the Bible, especially the Ten Commandments. Even the right to use deadly force in self-defense is established in the Old Testament Law. So, the Ten Commandments are a good starting place; making sure that people don’t do one another harm.

Before we had police or even much of a government here in the United States, we had local law enforcement in the form of vigilante groups. The same could easily be reestablished, using local civic organizations and church groups to create the vigilantes. While the skinny jeans crowd might not get it, most real men will quickly see the advantage of working together to ensure their families safe.

Vote in a Local Government

Creating a local work group to take care of neighborhood needs and reestablishing law and order lay the groundwork necessary to take on the next step; voting in a local government. In doing this, you’re actually just going back to the founding principles of our country and the documents that created it. That’s your legal precedence, should anyone argue what you’re trying to do.

Although we are not a democracy, but rather a republic, the election of our representative government is a democratic process; one which gives every citizen a voice. That’s important, as anything less gives people the idea that they have no say in what happens. Unfortunately, it makes voting a much harder process than we might think it would be. Before the actual vote can happen, voter rolls must be created, defining who has the right to vote and who doesn’t.

How that happens will be the biggest challenge in creating any sort of local government. Some will want to include everyone who is living in your town or city, regardless of citizenship. Others will want to take a more conservative route, limiting the vote to only citizens. But without any viable means of proving that citizenship, we might be forced to open the vote up to everyone, so as to prevent robbing a vote from someone who should have that right.

Regardless of how it happens, this should be out goal. As attractive as the idea of living alone, in a survival retreat might seem, the only way that we will have peace, is to ensure that we have government as well. That means inviting back all the old evils that government brings; but it is done in the hopes of avoiding even greater evils.

The following video reveals the secrets of a future crisis, but the government does not want us to know the truth!

Source- survivopedia.com