Sama, the Nairobi-based training data provider for Artificial Intelligence (AI) projects, has received the AI TechAward for “Best in Machine Learning Platforms” for the year 2021.
The annual awards, presented by AI DevWorld, recognize companies that succeed in technical innovation, adoption, and reception in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning industry and by the developer community.
The winners for the 2021 awards were selected from more than 100 entries per category from around the world and announced during the virtual AI DevWorld conference. The conference was aimed at software engineers and data scientists who wanted to learn more about AI, as well as AI developers who wanted to gain a broad overview of the latest AI technologies.
Sama is a provider of accurate data for ambitious AI. Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and others have depended on the company for more than a decade to offer secure, high-quality training data and model validation for their machine learning projects.
Sama’s mission of impact sourcing is still at the core of what they do. They employ over 90% of their staff from low-income and marginalized communities, such as unemployed urban and rural youth, who have traditionally been excluded from the digital economy. Providing them with essential digital training to aid in their transition to the future of work.
The company believes that connecting people to relevant digital work and paying them living wages may help tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges, including poverty reduction, women empowerment, and climate change mitigation. As a result, it has enabled over 56,000 people in eliminating poverty, increased worker wages by up to 4x, and provided over 11,000 hours of training to youth and women, who make up more than half of its workforce in both Kenya and Uganda offices.
For the second year in a row, the company was named on the Inc. 5000 list as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America in 2021. From 2017 to 2020, companies were ranked based on their percentage revenue growth.