Scale AI Under Investigation By U.S. Department Of Labor For Fair Pay Practices - 1

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Scale AI Under Investigation By U.S. Department Of Labor For Fair Pay Practices

  • Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
  • Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is investigating the American data-annotation and AI–training startup Scale AI for possible Fair Labor Standards Act vioations.

In a Rush? Here are the Quick Facts!

  • The U.S. Department of Labor is investigating Scale AI for potential violations of federal labor laws.
  • Scale AI has faced past accusations of worker exploitation, including lawsuits over misclassification and wage issues.
  • Despite legal scrutiny, Scale AI continues expanding, securing government contracts in the U.S. and Qatar.

According to TechCrunch , the investigation has been active since 2024 but the company hasn’t been accused of any law violation yet.

The law regulates employment aspects such as illegal retaliation against workers, minimum wage, unpaid wages, and misclassification of employees as contractors.

Scale AI, founded in 2016 and backed by Nvidia and Microsoft, has been previously accused of exploitation of Kenyan workers to train AI through the platform Remotasks, making them quit operations in the country as complaints grew.

Other ex-workers in the United States have filed a lawsuit against the company for violating minimum wage rates and misclassification of employees as contractors.

Joe Osborne, Scale AI spokesperson, told TechCrunch that the current investigation was initiated under the previous administration and that the company’s system had been misunderstood by previous regulators.

Alexandr Wang, CEO and founder of Scale AI, attended President Trump’s inauguration in January and signed a contract with the U.S. government to support military planning this week.

Osborne assured that they have been collaborating with the DOL to meet requirements and explain their gig-based business model. “Hundreds of thousands of people use our platform to showcase their skills and earn extra money,” he said.

The startup is based in San Francisco and has shown significant growth in the past few years. Scale AI was valued at $13.8 billion last year, and has been expanding its partnerships since then. Just a few days ago, the company also signed a new contract with Qatar to improve and modernize government services during the next five years.

U.S. Government Creates Strategic Bitcoin Reserve With Seized Assets - 2

Photo by Kanchanara on Unsplash

U.S. Government Creates Strategic Bitcoin Reserve With Seized Assets

  • Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
  • Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order this Thursday to establish a cryptocurrency reserve including Bitcoin and other currencies.

In a Rush? Here are the Quick Facts!

  • President Trump signed an executive order to establish a U.S. cryptocurrency reserve, including Bitcoin.
  • The reserve will hold seized Bitcoin, with the government treating it as a store of value like “digital gold.”
  • The order allows the Treasury and Commerce Departments to explore budget-neutral Bitcoin acquisitions.

According to Reuters , the announcement has been made ahead of a crypto meeting the White House had scheduled for this Friday.

David O. Sacks, White House AI and Crypto Czar—and head of the Working group to develop crypto regulations announced in January by Trump—, explained on the social media platform X, that the new “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” will be capitalized with the Bitcoin the U.S. government has seized from criminal and civil proceedings.

“It is estimated that the U.S. government owns about 200,000 bitcoins; however, there has never been a complete audit,” wrote Sacks. “The U.S. will not sell any bitcoin deposited into the Reserve. It will be kept as a store of value. The Reserve is like a digital Fort Knox for the cryptocurrency often called “digital gold.”

The official order also suggests that the U.S. government could purchase cryptocurrencies. “The Secretaries of Treasury and Commerce are authorized to develop budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin, provided that those strategies impose no incremental costs on American taxpayers,” states the document.

This new order comes after Bitcoin dropped under $80,000 in the market a few days ago—and experts suggested a combination of multiple factors including that the Trump administration had stopped making advancements and progress in the crypto market. However, the cryptocurrency’s value has not significantly increased.

According to the BBC , experts and crypto enthusiasts have criticized the measure for lack of transparency over the process and for not taking bolder steps. “Without a clear framework, we risk arbitrary asset selections, which would distort the markets and drive a loss of public trust,” said Jason Yanowitz, Co-Founder of crypto firm Blockworks, in response to the order.

More details are expected after the summit Trump will hold with crypto founders and investors.