High-quality AI begins with dignified human work.

We’re an award winning social enterprise providing ethical data annotation for AI built on the belief that people building AI training data deserve fair pay, real opportunity, and meaningful work.

120+

AI companies served globally

1400+

conflict-affected people employed

12

countries with active annotator teams

9

years of operation and impact

Our belief

Most of the data‑annotation industry competes on price by driving down wages and working conditions. We compete on the opposite axis: Fair pay, Safe work, and Real training, because that’s what produces AI training data that teams can actually trust.

Our model

A company and a Foundation, one mission

HITL operates as a hybrid social enterprise: a for-profit company that funds a non-profit foundation, both working together to create lasting change through dignified digital employment.

The Company

Our for-profit company provides employment opportunities to conflict-affected and displaced people, delivering high-quality data annotation services to AI teams worldwide.

Each year, the company donates 25% of its net profits to finance the core activities of the Foundation.

What we offer our clients:

95% data accuracy - rigorous QA on every batch
Fair work conditions - documented, verifiable, ESG-ready
12 countries, 10+ languages - including languages most vendors cannot cover
100% data security - NDAs, secure platforms, no third-party sharing

Industries we serve:

The Foundation

We partner with established local NGOs in each country to navigate the complexities of working in fragile contexts and to ensure payments reach people reliably.

Fair Work Policy

This is what ethical annotation means in practice

Our Fair Work Policy is documented, published, and verifiable. Every client who needs to demonstrate responsible AI supply chains can reference it directly.

60%

Revenue to Annotators

60% of every project’s revenue goes directly to the people doing the work.

25%

Net Profit to Foundation

25% of annual net profits fund the Foundation’s training and career programmes. The company and Foundation are not separate, they are two parts of the same model, designed to be self-reinforcing.

100%

Transparency Commitment No hidden labour chains

Full annotator provenance available on request. Workers have the right to withdraw, clear payment terms, and protections against exploitation in every country we operate.

Our story

Built to connect conflict-affected communities to the digital economy

Witnessing the distress caused to communities by armed conflict and forced displacement, Humans in the Loop was established in 2017 with a clear purpose: channel meaningful digital work opportunities to those who need them most, as a path to economic independence, not reliance on aid.

2017

Founded in Sofia, Bulgaria, partnering with local NGOs to connect displaced communities to remote annotation work.

2019-2021

Expanded the work of our Foundation to Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Turkey and Yemen. The same period we were first recognized by Cartier and MIT Solve.