sigma.ai Arvostelua 

My wife has just been brought to tears after diligently working for this company for two weeks. I write of her experience because she is too distressed.
1... She was not 'employed', but a contractor, paid not even by the hour, but by the minute of audio transcribed.
2... She was asked to transcribe various audio files as a test of her ability prior to being offered a contract. (She was 15years a legal secretary - two days lost.)
3... The audio files were from US ATC, police walkie-talkie and mostly indecipherable - I heard my wife playing on loudspeaker over and over to make out and identify the dozens of voices as per Sigma transcription rules. Thus, a 2 minute recording could take 40minutes or an hour to transcribe to professional standard, but she would only be paid for 2 minutes of transcription.
4.... Managers can offer the work to others. If someone else completes the work before you, your time expended is not counted.
5... She had to attend lots of online meetings where they want to watch you and these meetings are not paid time.
6... You can't invoice at the end of a week, they expect you to work a month. Then they say once approved payment takes 30days - they want your bank details and offer work recording audio files - a concern!
7... Their system crashes and loses the work done. Their managers then reply it is her fault.
8... They expected people to work hours to suit Sigma.ai company time zone not where you live.
9... She still hasn't been paid anything for( I reckon) 80 hours of her time.
10... Our child asks why mummy has to do this work (it is upsetting our kid and affecting school)
11... I look up Trustpilot.com and see three reviews in English all 1* and can vouch that what Soumaya, Vito and Sorin report rings true.
I wish she had asked me before signing a 'contract' with these shysters.
I hope this review saves you from wasting your time or worse.

I came here to warn people about Sigma ai because it's obvious that they're scammers. So after applying for the job posting of a Maghrebi and English Speaker transcriber, they sent me 5 audios to transcribe ; Maghrebi, Gulf Arabic, Levantine, Egyptian Arabic (each audio is 5 min long), and an English audio of 15 min. So after spending 2 days transcribing and getting the job perfectly done, I haven't heard from them anymore. So please be careful, since it seems that they post fake job ads to get free transcriptions from job seekers. Shame on you Sigma ai and I'm going to warn people everywhere about your fraud.

I joined the company with reasonable expectations and a willingness to contribute constructively in spite of the ridiculous rates for freelance. Unfortunately, my experience was marked by persistent structural and managerial shortcomings that significantly affected both performance and morale.

Project management was consistently unprepared. Planning often lacked clarity, timelines shifted without proper communication, and decision-making appeared reactive rather than strategic. Escalations were either delayed or handled without sufficient technical understanding, creating unnecessary friction across teams.

The platform itself presented serious technical issues that were neither transparently acknowledged nor adequately addressed. Recurring bugs, unstable releases, and unclear documentation created a constant state of uncertainty. Instead of structured remediation plans, problems were frequently patched in ways that introduced new risks.

Documentation management was handled carelessly. Version control was inconsistent, access protocols were unclear, and critical materials were sometimes modified without traceable oversight. In regulated or compliance-sensitive environments, this would be alarming.

Training quality was insufficient. Onboarding relied heavily on informal knowledge transfer, and official guides were outdated, incomplete, or poorly structured. This left new hires dependent on colleagues rather than on a coherent internal knowledge base.

Professional conduct at managerial level was inconsistent. Communication occasionally crossed into dismissive or unstructured territory, and feedback mechanisms lacked transparency. Constructive criticism was not always welcomed in practice, despite being nominally encouraged.

Most concerning was the handling of disputes. Processes appeared opaque and, at times, misaligned with standard labor regulations. Resolution mechanisms lacked independence and clarity, creating an environment where employees could reasonably question procedural fairness.

After clicking on a very promising‑sounding LinkedIn ad, I received an email with instructions for some “testing.” Fantastic, I thought — finally something interesting. Instead, I spent my time heroically transcribing Romanian and English audio clips like a budget speech‑to‑text engine.
Then I reached the Translation Test… and simply froze.
In all my years as a linguist, I have never encountered anything as gloriously nonsensical as their translation guideline. Behold this masterpiece of logic:

-----
”Example
Source language: English (United States)
Language being tested: Spanish (Spain)
Source text: Mrs. Jones called me in the morning.
Correct:
La Sra. Rodríguez me llamó por la mañana.
Explanation: The American surname must be magically transformed into a Spanish one, because apparently Spanish readers will spontaneously combust if exposed to “Jones.”
Incorrect:
La Sra. Jones me llamó por la mañana.
Explanation: “Jones” is not a Spanish surname, and therefore must be banished for cultural purity reasons."
-----

I mean… seriously? Who came up with this botchery? Who approved it? Who looked at this and said, “Yes, this is exactly how translation works”?
Naturally, I emailed them for clarification — and naturally, I have never heard back. Amazing.

Bon management et paiements réguliers.

I applied for freelance work as a registered EU company and was offered a contract through the US head office, despite them having an EU head office in Madrid, Spain.

The contract was set up in such a way it could get you into bankruptcy within literally days. The pay is okay, but the clauses are overwhelmingly one-sided, favoring only the company. Given their dual-office structure, this setup feels deliberate.

In case you consider applying, read your contract draft carefully and consult your lawyer if you don't understand "legalese" fully. I will not go into details here, but I will only say: protect yourself, no matter if you're a single freelancer or a registered company.

The money you will earn is not worth your life being ruined.

Good luck!