Contract workers who say they suffered severe psychological harm by being exposed to “deeply unsettling” and traumatic scenarios used to train generative artificial intelligence models filed a class action complaint on Friday against three Bay Area firms for alleged negligence and unsafe working conditions.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District California by Clarkson Law Firm, alleges Scale AI, Smart Ecosystem and Outlier AI failed to accurately disclose the disturbing nature of the content involved in the work, ignored the workers’ requests for support and retaliated against those who complained.