What happened

In March 2023, Baidu established a data annotation center in collaboration with a vocational school in Jiuquan, Gansu province, one of China's poorest regions. 

Reports indicate that some 160 students were coerced into annotating data for Baidu as a condition for graduating. Students were threatened with not receiving their degrees if they did not participate.

Why it happened

The partnership between Baidu and the vocational school appears to be part of a broader trend in China in which technology companies recruit student interns for data labeling tasks. 

With student interns often paid less than minimum wage and not requiring social security benefits, the practice allows companies to significantly reduce labour costs. 

The local government reportedly provided Baidu with 30 million yuan (approximately USD 4.1 million) to support the initiative, further incentivising the exploitation of student labour.

Baidu said it was not aware of the situation.