Hong Kong News

Nonpartisan, Noncommercial, unconstrained.
Friday, Jun 09, 2023

A man who rates Google search results said he makes $3 less per hour than his daughter working in fast food

A man who rates Google search results said he makes $3 less per hour than his daughter working in fast food

One rater told The Los Angeles Times that he and his colleagues "make some of the lowest wages in the US" and often handle very sensitive content.
A man who rates Google search results to weed out dangerous and inappropriate content said he gets paid $3 less per hour than his daughter who works at a fast food job.

Ed Stackhouse, a "rater" employed by Appen, a data company for machine learning development, told The Los Angeles Times he and his colleagues "make some of the lowest wages in the US." Appen's only client is Google, the Times reported, but Google works with several contractors, and doesn't decide pay and benefits for raters as they are not considered company employees.

"Raters" help Google "categorize information to improve our systems," which means Stackhouse sometimes has to review violent or pornographic content, he told the outlet. He said raters who don't want to view pornographic content "might see your tasks diminished," so most of them don't ask to limit what they work on.

"There are times that I have seen some of the graphic content replayed in my dreams," Stackhouse told the Times. "This is why I never work late at night anymore. Twice in my 10 years, I have seen child porn but thank God that is ultra-rare. I would quit."

Stackhouse is in the Alphabet Workers Union, which is currently asking that raters — who the union says "earn poverty wages, with no benefits" — be treated with "the same dignity, respect, and justice" as other workers who make up Google's workforce.

Raters make between $10 to $12 an hour, but after months of protests, some received raises in January to between $14 and $14.50 an hour.

Google says it has over 10,000 raters around the world, but some raters told Forbes they estimated only 3,000 to 5,000 raters got a raise, adding they didn't know how many raters work at Appen. The AWU told Forbes it didn't think raters at other companies who have contracts with Google got raises.

In April 2019, Google announced a minimum standard wage of $15 per hour or more for its extended workforce in the US, meaning even with the raise, workers are still not receiving the standard. However, raters work part-time and do not have access to Google's systems or badges, meaning the company's wages and benefits policy do not apply to them.

Parul Koul — a software engineer at Google and executive chair of the Alphabet Workers Union-CWA — told Insider in a statement that any employee doing work for the company "should not be struggling to make ends meet."

"We stand with Google raters and uplift their demand that Google include our members and coworkers in their own minimum standards of benefits and meet directly with workers to negotiate the fair working conditions they deserve," Koul said.

Stackhouse didn't immediately reply to Insider's request for comment. According to his LinkedIn, Stackhouse is based out of Asheville, North Carolina, where the living wage for one adult with one child is $39.49. Currently, minimum wage in Buncombe County, NC is $7.25. Stackhouse didn't tell the Los Angeles Times how much his daughter makes or what her role at her fast food job is.

According to the Times, Stackhouse has a serious heart condition that requires medical management, but he is ineligible for benefits because Appen caps his hours at 26 per week, making him a part-time employee.

Appen did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Stackhouse told the outlet he's starting to see search results written by Bard, the AI chatbot Google is testing as it competes with Microsoft's new Bing that it launched in partnership with ChatGPT creator OpenAI.

In January, Time reported that OpenAI used Kenyan workers, outsourced by AI firm Sama, to flag sensitive and toxic content. Four Sama workers told Time they were paid $2 or less per hour. Sama ended its partnership with OpenAI after the discovery in February 2022.

Sama also works with Google and Microsoft, and told Time it would stop working with graphic content by March 2023.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Comments

Oh ya 110 days ago
If your not happy quit and go sell burgers with your daughter. No time for whiners

Newsletter

Related Articles

Hong Kong News
Close
0:00
0:00
The Fed fixing the economy
Corporations standing up for “LGDP-LGT-LBG-LGBTQ2+ kids” during ‘Pride Month’ be like:
A Major Ukrainian Hydroelectric Dam BLOWN UP
US and European Intelligence Agencies Uncover Evidence of Ukrainian Role in Terror Attack on Nord Stream Pipeline
Photos and videos of Hunter Biden with underage minors have been released.
The driver has been described by authorities as a 21-year-old woman from Tallahassee
Joe Biden falls at the Air Force Graduation
America's Got Talent…
Elon Musk has been showered with praise by the Chinese public during his trip to China
Nvidia Joins Tech Giants as First Chipmaker to Reach $1 Trillion Valuation
Drone Attack on Moscow's Wealthiest Neighborhoods Suspected to be Launched by Ukraine
AI ‘extinction’ should be same priority as nuclear war – experts
Chinese fighter jet buzzes U.S. Air Force spy plane over South China Sea
Prominent Hacker Forum RaidForums Suffers Substantial Data Breach
Nvidia CEO Huang says firms, individuals without AI expertise will be left behind
WPP Revolutionizes Advertising with NVIDIA's AI Powerhouse
Two US Employees Fired For Chasing Robbers Out Of Store As They Broke ''Company Policy''
Pfizer, the EU, and disappearing ink - Smoke, Mirrors, and the Billion-Dose Pfizer Vaccine Deal: EU's 'Open Secret
The Sussexes' Royal Rebound: Could Harry and Meghan Markle Return to the UK?
A provocative study suggests: Left-Wing Extremism and its Unsettling Connection to Psychopathy and Narcissism
Neuralink Receives FDA Approval for First-in-Human Clinical Study
Ukrainian Intelligence Official Admits to Assassination Attempts on Putin
WATCH THIS: democracy in Russia is so bad!
Ed Davey: It is possible for a woman to have a penis
Bernard Arnault Loses $11.2 Billion in One Day as Investors Fear Slowdown in US Growth Will Reduce Demand for Luxury Products
Russian’s Wagner Group leader: “I am not a chef, I am a butcher. Russia is in danger of a revolution like in 1917.”
TikTok Sues Montana Over Law Banning the App
Ron DeSantis Jumps Into 2024 Presidential Race, Setting Up Showdown With Trump
Steve Jobs introducing Apple's iPhone, exactly 16 years ago.
Banking Behemoth vs Ex-Boss: The PMorgan-Epstein Entanglement
China overtakes Japan as world's top car exporter
Talks between US House Republicans and President Biden's Democratic administration on raising the federal government's $31.4tn debt ceiling have paused
Biden Administration Eyeing High-Profile Visits to China: The Biden Administration is heating things up by looking into setting up a series of top-level visits to Beijing by top officials in the coming months
New evidence in special counsel probe may undercut Trump’s claim documents he took were automatically declassified
A French court of appeals confirmed former President Nicolas Sarkozy's three-year jail term for corruption and influence peddling
Debt Ceiling Crises Have Unleashed Political Chaos
Weibao Wang, a former software engineer at Apple, was charged with stealing trade secrets related to autonomous systems, including self-driving cars
Mobile phone giant Vodafone to cut 11,000 jobs globally over three years as new boss says its performance not good enough
Elon Musk compares George Soros to Magneto, the supervillain from the Marvel Comics series.
Warren Buffett Sells TSMC Shares Over Concerns About Taiwan's Stability
New Study Finds That Secondary Bacterial Pneumonia Is a Major Cause of Death in COVID-19 Patients Who Require Ventilator Assistance
The official tapes of Trump's deposition in the E. Jean Carroll battery (rape) and defamation case have been released.
King Charles III being crowned.
Newly released video of Donald Trump’s rape trial deposition:
Video: Ukraine MP Punches Russian Representative At Global Meet
El Paso mayor has declared a state of emergency
Russia accused Ukraine of attacking the Kremlin with drones in an attempt to kill Putin
Dutch court orders man who fathered 550 kids to stop donating sperm
Kim Kardashian Lookalike Christina Ashten Dies Of Cardiac Arrest, Hours After Plastic Surgery
Samsung has banned employees from using generative AI services such as ChatGPT
×