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Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta Probed by Lawmakers on Use of AI ‘Ghost’ Staff

Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta Probed by Lawmakers on Use of AI ‘Ghost’ Staff

The chief executive officers of 9 companies, which include Amazon.com Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., Alphabet Inc., Microsoft Corp., as well as International Business Machines Corp., were addressed in a letter by a team of lawmakers led by Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey with Washington Representative Pramila Jayapal on Wednesday. In spite of the fundamental importance of this work, a lot of IT employees around the world carry out these demanding duties under constant scrutiny, with inadequate compensation and no benefits, the letter sent to the chief executives stated.

Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta Probed by Lawmakers on Use of AI ‘Ghost’ Staff
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“Workers are expected to screen out dangerous chatbot answers, but they may have little time to assess an answer’s safety,” they added. “Data workers are often given scant training or supervision, which can result in the introduction of bias.”

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The legislators question the executives on a wide range of issues pertaining to their data employees, such as the workers’ capacity to request leave, contest suspensions, or seek out mental health services when exposed to upsetting material.

The recipients of the letter include the more recent companies focused on Artificial Intelligence such as OpenAI Inc., Scale AI, Inflection AI, Inc., and Anthropic in addition to the well-known tech giants.

US corporations depend heavily on subcontracted workers to develop artificial intelligence (AI) products, whether they are based domestically or abroad. These workers are employed through external staffing services and frequently lack the perks offered to direct employees of the company. Companies also depend on similar services for other taxing duties like product quality assurance as well as content monitoring.

When confronted with disturbing pictures, some employees describe experiencing trauma as a way to block them out. According to a January Time article, OpenAI pays Kenyan employees less than $2 per hour to prevent that kind of information from appearing on ChatGPT.

Also Read: Binance US CEO quits as embattled crypto platform slashes one-third of staff

Senators are scheduled to meet with executives from companies like Tesla Inc., Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet at a closed-door AI summit on Wednesday afternoon organized by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who was not one of the politicians who signed the letter.

“These tech moguls are under-paying workers, failing to provide them basic protections and benefits, and subjecting them to an extensive web of surveillance in order to prop up their business,” Markey said in an emailed statement. “When they come to the Capitol to tout their innovation and excellence, I’d like to hear them answer for these disgusting labour practices.”

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