Nairobi, April 16 -- Data annotation company Sama, which provides training data for artificial intelligence (AI) systems, has issued redundancy notices to 1,108 employees at its Nairobi office following the termination of a major contract by Meta.

The layoffs, set to take effect later this month, will largely affect workers attached to the discontinued workstream, underscoring the vulnerability of Kenya's fast-growing outsourcing sector to shifts in global technology demand.

Sama employs thousands of workers in digital tasks such as image and video labelling and has built a significant presence in Nairobi as part of Kenya's emergence as a hub for outsourced AI support services.

The company said it had engaged Meta in an attempt to reta...