AI is widely perceived as being free from human intervention but the reality paints a more complicated picture. Nate is not the only company that has capitalized on AI through cheap labor overseas.

Nate said its app’s users could buy from any e-commerce site with a single click, thanks to AI. In reality, however, Nate relied heavily on hundreds of human contractors in a call center in the ...

Albert Saniger, founder of the so-called AI-driven shopping app Nate, has been charged with defrauding investors by masking a human-powered operation as artificial intelligence. The US Department ...

These were used alongside the manual teams to complete the purchases, not the promised AI, states the DoJ. Nate had raised over $50 million from investors since launch, raising $38 million in 2021 ...

AI boom fuels sketchy startup practices. Nate isn't the only startup accused of masking human labor as "AI automation." Drive-thru company Presto, with clients like Carl's Jr., Hardee's, Del Taco ...

According to Digital Trends, although Nate did purchase third-party AI technology and employed data scientists, the fundamental functionality it touted never functioned consistently.