The decision is said to affect "ghost workers," who are involved in training systems people use daily, such as Google Assistant. Appen employees work from home, reviewing information to train AI that facilitates public searches and speech recognition apps. The Alphabet Workers' Union has expressed concern over the "devastating impact" the move could have on subcontracted workers and the broader implications for the tech sector regarding the impact of AI on working people.
Key takeaways:
- Alphabet, Google's parent company, is terminating its contract with AI firm Appen, effective from March 19. Appen has helped train Google's AI model Bard and other AI models from tech giants.
- The termination will impact at least 2,000 subcontracted Alphabet employees, as Appen accounted for around one-third of Appen's income.
- The decision is said to affect 'ghost workers' who are involved in training systems people use daily, including image, text, audio, and other data to develop AI systems used by major tech firms.
- Workers at Accenture, another Google contractor, joined the Alphabet Workers Union last year after refusing to tolerate abusive prompts for the chatbot Bard, which was not yet available.