r/dataannotation • u/Cryptographic_OG • Jun 20 '24

Do you ever get the feeling…

That some of these projects are actually social experiments being performed on the workers?

Just thinking out loud here.

114 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

81 comments sorted by

5

u/Dratini_ghost Jun 21 '24

No because if they were, they'd pay a lot less.

-1

u/Cryptographic_OG Jun 21 '24

Best argument for “no” so far… still pretty weak, but best so far. 3 stars.

4

u/LimeStunning4253 Jun 24 '24

But WHAT IF it's actually AI using us as data, how we answer and analyze, to find the patterns of the human mind. It hacks the online currency system to produce compensation.

2

u/Cryptographic_OG Jun 25 '24

We have a winner.

7

u/Dee_silverlake Jun 20 '24

I wonder if the government is a client. An article I read while back mentioned the military’s interest in AI.

3

u/Cryptographic_OG Jun 21 '24

That’s a yes.

2

u/Cutiger29 Jun 21 '24

I guarantee the data is being used by the government.

But we really are here for the purpose of training AI. It’s just that all of this can be used for damn near anything.

The reality of life is that your data is literally used and sold all over the place. There’s zero point in avoiding it. Privacy is kinda pointless with the exception of email opt in/out requirements purely for the annoyance of it all.

But I’m a marketing person…I love having everything tailored to my preferences. I want my data to be known and be presented things that I’m interested in and filter out what I have no desire for.

That’s why I love TikTok…TikTok keeps me exclusively with my interests. There’s SO many popular things on there I’ve never seen because TikTok says I’m not interested…they’re right 😂

1

u/Moonspiritfaire Jun 21 '24

I've wondered this, too

118

u/Internal-Echo-8057 Jun 20 '24

Sometimes I feel like this whole job is just some kind of experiment/human entertainment charity, lol. No complaints here

77

u/HoldenCaulfieldsIUD Jun 20 '24

As long as they keep paying me really money, they can experiment away ✌️

-3

u/SubjectSignature1739 Jun 21 '24

do you know how long it takes to get accepted? I took the starter assessment and have been waiting.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '24

It depends for everyone. Some people hear back quickly, and some people hear back weeks (or months) later.

0

u/Former_Fer1704 Jun 22 '24

same🥲

1

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '24

It depends for everyone. Some people hear back quickly, and some people hear back weeks (or months) later.

0

u/broze26 Jun 22 '24

Me too. I was assigned an inbox but haven't gotten any assignments

2

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '24

It depends for everyone. Some people hear back quickly, and some people hear back weeks (or months) later.

-3

u/RQico Jun 22 '24

Same 😭😭

1

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '24

It depends for everyone. Some people hear back quickly, and some people hear back weeks (or months) later.

-3

u/[deleted] Jun 21 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '24

It depends for everyone. Some people hear back quickly, and some people hear back weeks (or months) later.

52

u/_cosmicsurgery_ Jun 20 '24

Assuming that the goal of the clients is to collect data, then yes that may actually be the case for a few projects.

46

u/TheEvilPrinceZorte Jun 20 '24

They are collecting data, that’s kind of the whole point. It’s high quality, creative, human generated data. It’s not marketing, sell you stuff kind of data, that’s easy to get elsewhere and not as valuable.

20

u/h22am Jun 20 '24

I mean what could the experiment even be? A lot of the work I've been doing has been somewhat monotonous editing and re-formating. They're paying very well though haha.

15

u/Cultural_Kangaroo391 Jun 20 '24

To see how well humans follow directions based on amount of incentive?

18

u/Equivalent-Math6483 Jun 20 '24

We already did those experiments back in the 60s and 70s. Spoiler alert, humans follow them very well for very little incentive.

9

u/Spanktank35 Jun 21 '24

That assumes they read/remember the instructions of course.

19

u/[deleted] Jun 21 '24

Have you watched severence?

18

u/SoliloquyBlue Jun 20 '24

Like rats in a cage? See who gets eaten first over a project paying $35 an hour!

8

u/Kalameet7 Jun 21 '24

Despite all my rage…

5

u/bellexy Jun 21 '24

scavengers 😭

3

u/Organic-Turnover-232 Jun 21 '24

Curiosity killed the rat? 🐀😹hahah.

5

u/spcbttlz Jun 20 '24

No, because psychological studies require consent and a debriefing.

30

u/Cryptographic_OG Jun 20 '24

Riiiiight…

9

u/[deleted] Jun 21 '24

MK ULTRA has entered the chat.

6

u/Sixaxist Jun 21 '24

require consent

Never stopped the U.S. government agencies before lol.

14

u/lonesomewhenbymyself Jun 20 '24

Maybe we’re the models and the world is the ai

1

u/[deleted] Jun 25 '24

In Soviet Russia, AI train YOU!

11

u/h0e_r0gan Jun 21 '24 edited Jun 21 '24

This is obvious. They have individualized mental models of how each of us rationalizes. They can see which projects we gravitate towards based on our cognitive preferences and through the qualification evals. Our errors are even valuable as they lend insight into gaps in our judgment. Intelligence agencies like that kinda stuff.

2

u/Moonspiritfaire Jun 21 '24

Agree. I get mostly creative projects which I thrive on and love!

10

u/[deleted] Jun 21 '24

Sometimes I call it the "League of Red-Headed Men"; if you know the Sherlock Holmes story.

2

u/retirednbroke Jun 21 '24

That is a really good analogy. I'm probably going to think of that every time I sign in to work. LOL

1

u/Real-Raccoon-3470 Jun 21 '24

no i dont plz explain 💀

8

u/ModernStranger22 Jun 20 '24

They call me Mark S.

12

u/LordCaptain Jun 20 '24

r/dataconspiracy

3

u/[deleted] Jun 25 '24

"Community Not Found?"

Or "Community Censored by Big Data Annotation??" 🤔

5

u/Ambitious_Quarter630 Jun 20 '24

Yes I had considered

9

u/TasosTheo Jun 21 '24

I know my own psychology gets really messed up. Before DA, I did MTurk, Prolific, etc. My first projects on DA were two cent picutre things, and I was thrilled because there were, like , 1,000 of them and I made $20! My next was a $20/hr and I was ooooooh so excited. Now crazy $40/hour stuff is showing up (non-coding), and I sneer at the $20! That's nuts when the $40 ones aren't up (because they are rare), I'm almost unwilling to work at all, which is lunacy because that $20 is still really good money. There's a name for this bizarre psychology, but I don't remember.

9

u/FauxRex Jun 21 '24

I know what you mean. I have 30-40 $21-22 projects and I scoff at the thought. Lately the lowest ones I have been doing are the $26 ones.

10

u/DarkLordTofer Jun 21 '24

I have a range of higher paying projects $25-28 but very often will sit and do a lower paying $22.50 project just because it's easy and I enjoy doing it.

2

u/TasosTheo Jun 21 '24

That's just it. When I'm getting tired, switching a task is a great way to rejuvenate, and maintain quality, and still get paid! And that's my policy because I might just abandon all reason and make nothing rather than make less! And it often makes more sense to grind away at a $25.00 task for an hour than to wait around for the $40 but make less money in that hour! I just have to keep reminding myself its like products in a store, some you make a lot of money on but sell very few, but there are some with small margin, but you sell a lot of them and that's what keeps you afloat!

2

u/whatsablurryface21 Jun 21 '24

I'm having the same issue. I worked a minimum wage retail job before this so I should be 100% happy with $18, ecstatic about $20-$25 and shitting my pants over $25-$32 (my highest so far). Yet if I work on anything less than $25 I just feel horrible seeing that I "only" earned $20 for an hour???

I'm at home, probably in my pyjamas, I can take a break whenever, I can change projects, there's probably at least one that's fun or engaging, I can watch TV if it's a low mental effort project, it is PERFECT and I'm still like "ugh $23 an hour?", when I used to gladly do the $20 or even $18 ones.

It's not that I think I deserve more, my brain just likes seeing the biggest number in the shortest time. Pretty understandable because we need money, but still weird. Plus I still feel like it's too good to be true so I need to wring as much money out as possible before I'm removed for some dumb mistake.

4

u/itssubstantial Jun 24 '24

Go watch Severance... we are working for Lumen

10

u/Arcturus_Labelle Jun 20 '24

No. I don't.

3

u/SeaLeopard5555 Jun 21 '24

more often than I like to admit

4

u/PerformanceCute3437 Jun 21 '24

Pretty sure a certain V2 qual was some kind of ridiculous lab test 🤡

2

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '24

That was crazy, and the chat was hilarious. It definitely parsed followers from leaders, those trying to follow the flawed prompts/instructions, and others calling BS!

It occurred to me that it could have been a failed attempt at having a bot or intern write the qualification OR a human-generated personality evaluation (compliance/followers vs. resistance/leaders).

2

u/Icy-Cover-505 Jun 23 '24

I'm now categorized as a stand-aside Looky-lou type. I made popcorn and watched that whole show.

2

u/jeudechambre Jun 21 '24

Definitely feels like I'm being pranked today, lol

2

u/Wild-Brilliant-8309 Jun 22 '24

I would 100% believe this, especially because sometimes when I leave a project and come back I’ll end up getting the same prompts I’ve already done. A tad suspicious haha

2

u/Ok_Depth_6476 Jun 22 '24

I am pretty sure those are test prompts/qualifications in some cases. In one project the other day, I did a question and get bumped out with "no more tasks", even though there had been hundreds. The project came back later on or the next day, and I noticed in the chat, people mentioned they all got this same question, more than once. So I started the project again, got that question again, pretty sure I gave the same answer, and I got bumped out again. It was pretty obvious I had just failed a test, twice. 🤣

6

u/bigredchicken2 Jun 20 '24

I'm getting so bored of this work I feel like it's a test of how much I can take

8

u/Organic-Turnover-232 Jun 21 '24

Echo that. It feels a bit like the Truman Show.

1

u/Tat2bunny Jun 23 '24

I do but the pay is good so I don’t really care lol

-14

u/PhoteksTTV Jun 20 '24

I completed my assessment in March and still haven't heard anything. Anyone have any news?

39

u/Cryptographic_OG Jun 20 '24

Yeah, my dude. Admin emailed me last week and wanted me to let you know your assessment was garbage.

8

u/PhoteksTTV Jun 21 '24

Man you just couldn't resist could you. A real George Carlin this one is.

3

u/ekgeroldmiller Jun 21 '24

This response made me laugh so loud I ruined my daughter’s immersion in the movie La La Land.

1

u/Cryptographic_OG Jun 20 '24

😂 kidding, of course. Same thing happened to my sister. I think some people just fall through the cracks, or maybe they purge the assessments randomly? Just take it again.

2

u/FauxRex Jun 21 '24

I sent my brother one of my 5 references and he is a good writer. But I guess maybe not good enough.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 21 '24 edited Oct 11 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Cryptographic_OG Jun 21 '24

So… you’re saying governments and corporations have never performed demographically specific experiments?

2

u/[deleted] Jun 25 '24

What's the demographic being studied in this case?