For most of the poorest people in India, at current growth rates, it will take generations for them to reach India’s mean income level. There’s a growing number of accessible data jobs, especially for AI training, that could speed this up, but most of the jobs are very low wage. Data workers make cents per hour for datasets that are often sold for hundreds of dollars.

Karya gets fair pay for data workers who capture AI training data. They recruit low-skill workers and assess their digital literacy. Workers earn and learn, with task complexity increasing as they gain experience, thanks to predictive mobile technology. More complex tasks mean higher pay. Through Karya’s digital platform, workers complete tasks remotely via mobile phones, breaking down barriers to employment. Once workers earn a life changing amount of money, they graduate, ready for new jobs with their skills and experience.

Safiya Husain is the Chief Impact Officer and Co-Founder of Karya. She grew up in Central Asia and has a background in humanitarian work and research. Before Karya, she co-founded two companies in India and worked as a research consultant for 3ie and the United Nations. Later, at STiR Education, she led their monitoring and evaluation with the design of some big impact research projects.