A researcher in South Africa was offered a position to train an AI system designed to grade essays and teach undergraduate students. The role offered an hourly wage of ZAR 600, significantly higher than the national minimum wage of ZAR 30.23.
The recruitment process for the role was fully automated, involving a 45-minute interview conducted by an AI. The system provided feedback on the candidate's performance and requested a re-assessment, leading the applicant to decline the job.
AI companies are increasingly recruiting professionals in Africa to extract expert knowledge and judgment. This trend includes hiring workers in India, such as welders and waste sorters, who record their tasks for ZAR 2.60 per hour to train humanoid robots.
Platforms like Outlier, Mercor, and Surge are actively recruiting lawyers, doctors, and engineers to automate professional judgment. These systems aim to interpret context, a task previously considered difficult to automate.
Africa faces a unique economic landscape with high youth unemployment, which reached 47.4% in the second quarter of 2026. While AI adoption remains low across the continent at approximately 18%, South Africa shows a slightly higher rate of 23%.