Karya: Elevating Ethical Data for AI & Data Workers to the Middle Class

by Gloria Lee and Jayson Wang


Karya is a social enterprise bringing dignified, digital work, and upskilling to economically disadvantaged workers in the Global South, offering a pathway out of poverty. It provides above-market wages and royalties, supporting both professional growth and higher-skilled data work. For AI/ML clients, including major Silicon Valley companies, Karya offers high-quality, high-accuracy ethical data annotation services for AI/ML clients. Amidst an explosion of generative artificial intelligence, few consider the workers producing the large datasets required to train AI models. India-based Karya’s dream is a world in which data can both financially and technologically empower millions of individuals living in poverty.


Details

Pub Date: October 1, 2025

Discipline: Strategy

Keywords: Mission, Strategy, Business model development, Business model innovation, Business models, Corporate social responsibility, Social enterprise, Social entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship, Social innovation, Artificial intelligence, Language

Product #: B6079-PDF-ENG

Industry: Translation Services, Professional services

Geography: India, United States

Length: 9 page(s)





California Management Review

Published at Berkeley Haas for more than sixty years, California Management Review seeks to share knowledge that challenges convention and shows a better way of doing business.

Learn more