OpenAI asks contractors to upload their work samples
What's the story
OpenAI and Handshake AI, a company specializing in training data, are reportedly asking third-party contractors to upload real examples of their work from past and current jobs, according to WIRED. The request is part of a broader trend among AI companies hiring contractors to create high-quality training data. The ultimate goal is to enable these models to automate more white-collar tasks in the future.
Data submission
Specific requirements for contractors
According to the report, OpenAI has asked its contractors to detail the tasks they have done in previous jobs and provide examples of "real, on-the-job work" that they have "actually" done. The company is looking for concrete outputs like Word documents, PDFs, PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, images or code repositories. However, before uploading these files, contractors are instructed to remove any proprietary or personally identifiable information.
Scrubbing assistance
OpenAI provides tools for data scrubbing
To assist contractors in removing sensitive information, OpenAI has recommended a tool called "Superstar Scrubbing." However, the approach of relying on contractors to determine what information is confidential has drawn criticism from intellectual property lawyer Evan Brown. He told WIRED that any AI lab employing this strategy is "putting itself at great risk" with an approach that requires "a lot of trust in its contractors."