Hey! This is my missed blog. It still comes a bit short because I didn’t have time this week to finish the plagiarism article, but here’s what I have to say about the AI dying languages tool:

I think this article shows the importance of having access to dying languages AI tools, its long-term impact on the language, culture, and its people, and by addressing the fact that the data collected often comes from exploitative means.

The article explains that “This type of monotonous ‘ghost work’ takes on an emotional dimension in the context of language preservation,” and it’s absolutely true. We see it happening in many monotonous jobs. The human spirit dies with “tedious repetition” even when working a regular retail job. The difference is that, when working to preserve your own language and culture, people also feel a sense of hope for the future of their culture and pride in taking action in preserving their language, which ultimately fuels employees with a strong motivation to keep working. One that is emotional and historical, rather than exploitative or capitalist.

Though the development of dying languages AI tools may be “motivated by commercial profit, social impact, technological innovation, or a mix of all three,” for the native speaker, it is exciting, even when the pay they receive is significantly lower than it should be.

The article is successful in showing us how bad the employees’ pay is in U.S. dollars, but fails to demonstrate a clear understanding of the currency exchange rates. Often, I see first-world countries complaining about the low-wage job exploitation in third-world countries, but without them even knowing what that money represents for the employee.

Everyone says, “close fast-fashion third-world-warehouses for they exploit the employees.” Okay, and then what? Thousands of local workers lose their jobs and their ability to sustain themselves and their families. $243 is nothing for an American — maybe that’s just their electricity bill, but for countries where the currency exchange favors the U.S. dollar, that same amount pays for the rent, gas, utilities, insurance, school tuition, food, and entertainment.

I think it’s too easy to just say “pay them more money or close the factory” when a whole economic analysis that focuses on currency exchange rates and socio-cultural phenomena needs to exist to actually propose an alternate method.