Scale AI faces five GDPR complaints over alleged contractor surveillance

Scale AI, the company that helps teach AI models how to behave, is now accused of behaving badly itself. European privacy group noyb has filed five complaints under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), alleging that Scale unlawfully monitors contractors who work on its Outlier platform. The complaints were filed on October 27, 2026, across four EU countries: France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Austria. What noyb is alleging Outlier is where Scale recruits freelancers to do the unglamorous work behind modern AI. Contractors label data, grade chatbot answers, and complete other tasks that help models improve. According to noyb, the work comes with an uninvited supervisor. The group alleges that up to 19 different trackers were reportedly deployed on contractor devices. Those trackers allegedly capture keystrokes and mouse movements. They also allegedly monitor activity both during work sessions and outside of them. noyb further alleges that data collected this way was sent to third parties, including LinkedIn and TikTok. The complaints also take aim at biometric verification. noyb alleges Scale ran these identity checks without adequate justification, which raises its ...