Why Google’s ‘human intelligence’ is complaining over artificial intelligence

Google’s Bard chatbot is quite prompt in answering your queries. But do you know, despite all the artificial intelligence at work, the Bard is highly dependent on humans, and they are overworked, underpaid, and frustrated?
There are a group of contract workers who work behind the scenes to support generative AI. If you think it is all AI, then you are wrong, human intelligence is as important as artificial intelligence as they are the ones who make sure the chatbot spits out accurate and reliable answers.
Amidst Google’s AI race with OpenAI, the ones to suffer are these contract workers. The workload of these workers has increased in size and complexity.
Take the case of Bard. It offers prompt responses to a variety of questions. Whether you are asking for help in your mathematics assignment or making it write a whole new book, it can do it all. Nevertheless, the chatbot and the companies depend on human reviewers to improve the quality of these responses and maintain consistency. These individuals evaluate the answers, provide feedback on errors, and remove traces of partiality.
Those working on the Bard are from companies such as Appen and Accenture. Despite working under strict time constraints with minimal training and earning as little as $14 an hour, these contractors have expressed concerns about the standard of their work and worry about facing the consequences of speaking up, reports Bloomberg.
These staffers have been working since January on AI-related tasks to prepare for the public release of Google’s AI products.
According to six current Google contract workers, their job has become increasingly challenging. Even without specialised knowledge, these workers are responsible for evaluating responses on a variety of topics, including medication dosages and state regulations. They must follow complex instructions and complete tasks with tight deadlines, some as short as three minutes.
One of the contractors said the current situation is causing fear, stress, and uncertainty among people, resulting in underpaid work and a lack of cohesiveness. The contractor believes that this culture of apprehension is not helpful in achieving the desired quality and teamwork from everyone.
Contractors working for Google have expressed concerns about their working conditions, both privately and publicly. They claim that the conditions affect the quality of content that users see. In May, a contract worker for Appen wrote a letter to Congress, stating that the speed at which they are required to review content could make Bard a “faulty” and “dangerous” product.
The workers claimed that their work was evaluated through automated means that were difficult to understand. They could not communicate directly with Google and only provided feedback through a “comments” section for each task. Additionally, workers had to work quickly as they were flagged by an AI system that urged them to work faster.
According to the workers, they have come across disturbing content such as bestiality, war footage, child pornography, and hate speech as part of their job evaluating the quality of Google’s offerings.
Some workers at Accenture said they were temporarily assigned to review inappropriate and offensive prompts. However, after one worker filed an HR complaint, the project was suddenly stopped for the US team. Nevertheless, teams at other locations are still continuing this practice.
Accenture employees were also asked to provide creative responses to prompts for Google’s AI chatbot, Bard. They were given tasks such as writing a Shakespearean-style poem about dragons or debugging code. Sources familiar with the situation revealed this information anonymously.
Last month, six contract workers at Appen who trained Google’s new AI chatbot claimed they were unjustly fired for speaking out about low pay and unreasonable deadlines. The employer, Appen, is accused of illegally firing the workers for organizing. Despite advocating for better pay and working conditions for almost a year, they were terminated just two weeks after warning Congress about potential danger from the chatbot, Bard. Appen cited “business conditions” as the reason for termination and has not commented further.
In a statement, Google said the company is not the employer of any of the workers in question. Instead, the suppliers are responsible for setting the working conditions, such as pay, benefits, hours, tasks assigned, and employment changes.