Is Google facing its own Kodak moment with the rise of AI?
The Google search engine has become such a ubiquitous part of life that it's difficult to imagine the possibility that one day it could just vanish. Yet, that is what financial markets are doing – pondering an artificial intelligence-powered future of search in which Google is left behind.
Sure, the search engine's parent Alphabet has a market capitalisation that, at $US2 trillion ($3.3 trillion), exceeds the entire Australian sharemarket. But the value of Google could and would be larger were it not for growing anxiety that AI is going to totally upend the way we find things on the internet, and how businesses pay platforms like Google for customers.
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Australian company in the spotlight One company with questions to answers is Appen. Appen was an early starter in the AI industry, initially focused on voice recognition. These days its focus is data collection including photos for big tech clients. Appen's client list has included Microsoft, Apple, Meta, Google and Amazon. The workers we met in Kenya say they were asked by Appen to provide photos of children, for a few cents. Chychy says she was asked to send photos of a three-year-old have a nappy changed. 'I was like, okay, you're now being intrusive into my space. So, in the first place, you never paid for the project that I applied for that is data collection, data labelling. I never got that. Now it is images and now a baby changing diaper. Why? Where is it going? I refused. I never replied to those emails. I never did anything, and I never went back to the platform.' she says. 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For those in Kenya it's become an essential part of their livelihoods. Chychy, Joan and Michael have now combined with other workers in Kenya and started the data labellers association. They hope to create ethical AI, changing the way artificial intelligence is created around the world. 'I think it's high time the investors know where is this data coming from, how these people are compensated? How many hours do they work? Is the, before we get this final product, what is the process?' Chychy says. Michael says, 'we will ensure they (the tech companies) do the right thing in the entire continent. We are going to make sure that here in Africa things are done the right way.' Full list of questions we sent Appen Images Kenyan workers have been asked to provide photos of minors – what specifically are these photos being used for? Which company are these photos being collected for? Why aren't workers told specifically how and where these images will be used? Could these images be on sold in the future or are they only used for one project? Where does Appen store these images? Workers are not paid for images that don't meet technical requirements, why aren't those images returned? What happens to the images that do meet technical requirements and why aren't workers paid for them? i.e in the situation where eight might be accepted but two are rejected What is required to show specific consent from people featured in images? Payments You claim to pay minimum wage for your outsourced workers – how is the 'minimum wage' determined for Kenya? We can find no evidence Appen is paying minimum wage in Kenya as an hourly, daily or task rate. Could you provide evidence of paying outsourced workers in Kenya minimum wage according to their country's rates. Workers claim they're unable to access money earned for tasks due to payment platforms, used by Appen, requiring a minimum withdrawal. Why do you require workers use these specific payment platforms where they can't withdraw their wages? Training What do you do with the data collected during the training process? Why don't you pay workers for the data collected during the training process? Messages from workers We provided Ryan Kolln a USB stick with messages from workers in Kenya – has he viewed that? What is Mr. Kolln's response to those messages? Are you exploiting workers in Kenya, as they allege? Are you guilty of Modern Slavery, as workers in Kenya allege? You've signed the Modern Slavery Act agreeing to report slavery risks in your supply chain, we can find no evidence provided by Appen to prove its supply chain doesn't exploit workers or engage in slavery of workers in Kenya – can you provide evidence to the contrary. General questions Does Lukas Biewald still have any connection to Appen? Appen gives workers 'contracts' if they pass training – what is the point of that 'contract'? Why don't workers have to sign the 'contract'? One of our workers (Geoffrey Michael Asia) has been locked out of his Appen account since talking to us – is this a reaction to his involvement in our investigation? Is Appen still offering work to people in Kenya? Appen's full statement Thank you for the opportunity to respond. At Appen, we take the treatment of our global contributor community seriously and are committed to transparency, fairness, and ongoing improvement. We appreciate the chance to address the claims raised in your inquiry and have provided detailed responses to each question — including specific examples, data points, and explanations of our processes and standards. To be clear, we do not tolerate unfair treatment of contributors and consistently exceed legal and ethical baselines in the markets where we operate. In Kenya, for example, we have established a minimum base rate of $2.00/hour — well above the statutory minimum wage of $0.73/hour — which is applied consistently across our projects, and we work closely with delivery partners to ensure compensation meets or exceeds that floor. Spotlight response: Given this work is task-based, Appen was unable to clarity how it guarantees per hour payments We require contributors to provide informed consent when participating in image-based projects and uphold strong privacy and client confidentiality standards. Due to confidentiality obligations, we are unable to disclose the names of our clients. While project-specific information may at times be limited due to binding agreements with clients, we aim to provide contributors with as much clarity as permitted. Spotlight response: We asked for further clarification regarding consent i.e is it written, verbal etc but were given no further information On payments, we understand the frustration that some workers feel regarding minimum withdrawal limits set by certain payment platforms. To clarify, we do not impose these limits ourselves — they are set by the payment providers directly, typically to ensure the withdrawal request can cover any transaction fees associated with the preferred payment method. Our system is designed to work within their frameworks, and we are continuously evaluating alternative providers with better terms, including lower minimum withdrawal thresholds. One of the key reasons we adopted a wallet-based system was to give Contributors the flexibility to choose their preferred payment provider from the available options. This approach allows for more control and accessibility, depending on what's available in their region. We also want to note that we do not charge any fees for money transfers or currency conversion. All payments are passed through directly to the chosen provider without any markup or commission from our side. We remain committed to improving the payment experience and are always looking for ways to make it more convenient and accessible for all Contributors. In regard to our data storage practices, all data is deleted by Appen after it has been delivered to the client, as the copyright only belongs to the end customer. Spotlight response: Therefore, it is unknown where images end up or if they can be sold to someone else. We also want to firmly address the allegation that any contributor was locked out of their account due to engagement with your investigation. Our audit records show consistent logins by the individual in question, and no evidence supports the claim of a lockout. More specifically, our audit logs confirm the contributor logged into his CrowdGen account on the CrowdGen for the first time around 9/13/2024, and subsequently on the following dates: Jan 1, 2025, Feb 10, 2025, Feb 20, 2025, Feb 26, 2025, Mar 18, 2025, Mar 19, 2025, Mar 20, 2025, Mar 21, 2025, Mar 24, 2025, Mar 25, 2025, May 30, 2025
