ChatGPT, the chat bot developed by the artificial intelligence company OpenAI, attracted attention all over the world with its capabilities and creativity. Artificial intelligence could write an app from scratch and offer original ideas for movies, TV shows, and all kinds of content.
But when it comes to ethical debates, misuse of language and biased comments, he stops himself and makes statements such as “It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to say that”. These sentences were created thanks to the cheap Kenyan employees, according to new information.
Unknown background of ChatGPT:
In its extensive research, TIME magazine shed light on the process OpenAI followed to create the filter of artificial intelligence. OpenAI has so far collaborated with a company called ‘Sama’, which also provides services to companies such as Microsoft, Google and Meta.
Although collaborating with an outside company on this was normal, what wasn’t normal was Sama’s methods. The San Francisco-based company, which serves Silicon Valley companies, was hiring employees especially from Kenya and India.
Moreover, these employees were paid $1.32 to $2 per hour, depending on title and performance. An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed that the company is collaborating with Kenyan employee Sama, but did not provide any information about the fees.
What’s more, what employees encountered wasn’t quite normal:
In order to enable ChatGPT to provide exemplary comments, written content of every imaginable profanity, every imaginable crime and science had to be read and filtered. An employee involved in this process also shared his experience.
The anonymous employee came across an article specifically depicting a man having sexual intercourse with a dog and a young child in front of him. This article, which is just one example, was enough to have the following effect on the employee:
“It was torture. You’ll read a number of statements like this one during the week. When you get to Friday, you get uncomfortable thinking about that picture.”
Cheap employee, high earnings:
Internal correspondence between OpenAI and Sama showed that OpenAI paid Sama a total of $200,000 towards the end of 2021. A total of 3 dozen employees were divided into 3 separate groups, and each group focused on one topic.
So how much did the employees get paid?
According to the information provided by the three employees, the employees worked 9 hours a day and read between 150 and 250 pieces of text. Each piece could be in the range of 100 to 1,000 words. Starting with a simple calculation, the lowest monthly fee is 237.6; the highest monthly fee was 360 dollars.
The agreement between OpenAI and Sama stated that OpenAI would pay the company $12.50 per hour.
A Sama representative told TIME that the hourly wage ranged from $1.46 to $3.74. He also stated that OpenAI’s $12.50 fee includes fees such as infrastructure expenses and advances, apart from salaries.
On the other hand, Sama ended its cooperation with OpenAI in February 2022. According to information TIME obtained from an employee, the rationale was Sama’s desire not to expose its employees to dangerous content.
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