AI Cuts Refugee Tech Jobs by 50% in Kenya, Pushing Workers Into Unpaid Reward Gigs
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Oct 8
AI Cuts Refugee Tech Jobs by 50% in Kenya, Pushing Workers Into Unpaid Reward Gigs
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Oct 8
Summary
Refugees in Kenya’s Kakuma camp say shrinking tech microwork is forcing them into opaque projects that offer discretionary “rewards” instead of guaranteed wages, with some RWS-linked tasks promising up to $500 but no assured pay.
About 50% of entry-level digital jobs such as transcription, translation and web research have disappeared since 2022, the International Trade Centre estimates, as ChatGPT and other automation tools replace work once marketed as a path to refugee self-sufficiency.
Kakuma’s more than 300,000 residents have few alternatives because refugees cannot legally work in Kenya and many households live on less than $50 a month, making even low-paid gigs hard to refuse.
Workers and advocates say pay has fallen from roughly 500 to 1,000 Kenyan shillings a day on earlier platforms, while anonymous supply chains, violent content and fear of replacement by AI or cheaper labor weaken their bargaining power.
Training groups are shifting toward software engineering, digital marketing and e-commerce, while labor advocates and UN-linked agencies push for transparency, collective protections and guardrails against what they call a race to the bottom.
As AI automates digital gigs, what hidden price do marginalized refugees pay when forced into opaque tech labor just to survive?
If digital training no longer guarantees income for displaced populations, how will hundreds of thousands survive the sudden collapse of microwork?
Refugee Microwork in Kenya Under Threat: AI Automation, Platform Shutdowns, and the Global Race to the Bottom
Overview
The report reveals how the rapid rise of generative AI in 2026 led to the collapse of entry-level digital jobs for refugees in Kenya. As advanced AI models automated basic digital tasks, workers who once trained these systems found themselves replaced and unable to find work. This crisis was made worse by abrupt platform shutdowns, leaving thousands unpaid and without warning. Refugees, already facing strict legal and financial barriers, were locked out of digital opportunities and formal services. The resulting loss of income, combined with shrinking humanitarian aid, pushed many into deeper poverty and exposed them to severe exploitation and psychological harm.