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Tech Life

The workers in the engine room of big tech

Tech Life

BBC

Tech News, Technology, News

4.3227 Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2026

⏱️ 27 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We look at revelations about outsourced tech workers in Kenya, and try to find out why more than a thousand of them have been made redundant.

Also this week: are you getting the best out of artificial intelligence? Could changing "how" you communicate with AI make a difference? We speak to an author and put his recommendations to an AI test. And we hear from a company turning lamp-posts into data centres.

Presenter: Chris Vallance Producer: Tom Quinn

(Image: The words "Meta AI" are displayed on a smartphone screen. The phone is resting on a laptop keyboard. Credit: Reuters)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.

0:07.0

If you need help on money matters, you're not alone.

0:10.5

In the Martin Lewis podcast, I'll give you tips to keep more cash in your pocket

0:13.9

and answer your important questions.

0:16.7

Now that we're starting from scratch, what is the best way for us to move forward?

0:21.2

To help your everyday finances just add up, let's see what we can do.

0:26.2

The Martin Lewis podcast, listen on BBC Sounds.

0:30.3

Hello and welcome to TechLife on the BBC World Service,

0:33.4

the programme about technology and the changes it can bring to all our lives.

0:38.2

I'm Chris Valence.

0:39.7

Today we're looking at revelations about outsourced tech workers in Kenya,

0:44.1

and we try to find out why more than a thousand of them have been made redundant.

0:48.7

That's coming up in a moment.

0:50.8

Later, are you getting the best out of artificial intelligence?

0:54.1

Could changing how you communicate with AI make a difference?

0:58.6

I speak to an author and put his recommendations through an AI test.

1:04.2

Ah, a fellow gnome enthusiast. On our snowy volcanic outpost, that paperclip becomes vital for securing tiny hats to resist the wind.

1:13.5

And could small computers in lampposts take on the work of a data center?

1:18.0

This man thinks so.

1:19.4

This is not a pipe dream. At scale, this is actually a better bet than a data center.

1:24.1

Data center has to be cooled down. We don't have to call us down.

1:50.1

Music a data center. Data center has to be called down. We don't have to call us down. We hear a lot about the billionaires at the top of the tech industry,

...

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