Years ago, various online jobs that didn't require much expertise bar a perfect knowledge of a language seemed questionable to me, even of apparently legitimate. Beyond the payment that seemed low, I found their basic mechanism stupid: If I was in Germany but not a German, I couldn't enroll, because I needed a perfect mastery of German. It didn't matter that I could perform in English and French, and that the job was purely online. It has to be “about the local culture” because such tasks could include, e.g., “evaluating the impact of an advertisement.” OK, so I forgot about them.
Now, thanks to an ad on Facebook, I discovered that there are many such jobs targeting various tasks meant to help train AI. Most likely, not just the major LLMs but also customized agents, depending on the client. From the platforms offering such gig jobs, I selected the following ones to analyze.
### Platforms:
§1. Outlier.AI and Remotasks (subsidiaries of Scale AI)
(a.) Outlier: "40,000 experts, 3.4M assignments, $100M paid out." It doesn't look that well-paid to me!
"AI training is never boring! Apply for an opportunity in your area of expertise." "Outlier helps the world’s most innovative companies improve their AI models by providing human feedback. Are you an experienced writer who would like to lend your expertise to train AI models?"
"How much will I be paid? Competitive rates are set based on the domain of focus and your qualifications."
OK, but the hourly rates are set by location, not by language, despite being online jobs! The advertisement shown (in Facebook) to people in or from Romania claims "up to $15/hr," but in other countries it varies:
- https://outlier.ai/languages/ro-ro - Language: Romanian - "Earn up to $15/hr"
- https://outlier.ai/languages/fr-fr - Language: French - "Earn up to $25/hr"
- https://outlier.ai/languages/de-de - Language: German - "Earn up to $29/hr"
For tasks involving texts:
- "Currently, pay rates for core project work by Romanian writing experts average USD $15 per hour."
- "Currently, pay rates for core project work by French writing experts average USD $25 per hour."
- "Currently, pay rates for core project work by Italian writing experts average USD $20 per hour."
- "Currently, pay rates for core project work by German writing experts average USD $29 per hour."
For experts:
- "Currently, pay rates for core project work by Math experts in France/Germany/Italy/UK range from $30 to $50 USD per hour."
- "AI Training for Sociology" pays "up to $30.00, depending on your level of expertise."
- "Higher rates might be offered for PhD."
Other jobs:
- US, Canada: "Currently, pay rates for core project work for voice recording are up to $40 USD per hour."
Unfortunately, most jobs (or tasks) are for the US, Canada, the UK, Australia.
From the Reddit threads I examined, I gathered contradictory testimonials:
- The onboarding process tends to be long, complex, and time-consuming.
- Some people are happy, but many are not.
- Complaints about the lack of assignments for up to several weeks.
- Complaints about the long onboarding followed by nothing.
- Complaints about being kicked off a job or even having the account closed without any explanation or based on alleged use of AI, which wasn't the case. But those rejections were automated, and no human examined them.
- Complaints about abusive downgrading of one's status, without justification and means to appeal.
- Complaints about tasks starting e.g. at midnight with expiration in, say, 12 or 15 hours, and a task needing 8 hours. If one cannot end it in the required timeframe, all work is lost, meaning no payment!
- Complaints about onboarding or preparatory tests requiring you to say that a true statement is false or that a false statement is true, because the tests are wrong. PhDs or experts have had such experiences.
- PhDs and experts complained that expertise is not properly rewarded, and that “regular people” with little or no expertise are preferred.
In such conditions (wrong assessment tests, etc.), I suspect that AI models will become worse and worse if trained by the people selected by Outlier.AI!
I also question the reliability of such a side job. Many people say one has to work at least 30-40 hours a week, and during the night too, so it's a tough decision.
(b.) Remotasks: "Meet entrepreneurial taskers like you. Join a community of 240,000+ taskers in 90 countries."
"Learn how to do tasks with our quick online courses or free hands-on training + Work on tasks from projects you’ve unlocked + Get paid based on your quality & number of tasks completed."
Tried to sign up with Romania: "Unavailable country." Wow. 90 countries, but not a EU one!
§2. Pareto.AI
From Reddit, I learned that it used to be largely aimed at providing employment for women in developing countries, mostly in Africa, and specifically Kenya and Nigeria.
Pareto's new contractor agreement has a Non-Disparagement section: "j. Non-Disparagement: The Contractor agrees not to disparage or make any negative statements about the Company, its employees, or its clients, during the term of this Agreement and for a period of one year following its termination."
Negative statements can be perfectly true. One can even make them in court, in a lawsuite against Pareto. A company who thinks so much about the possibility of "negative statements" against it most likely knows that its business practices are not correct.
§3. Alignerr
I know nothing about them.
### Questions:
1. How trustworthy are such platforms?
2. How big is the risk of becoming a disappointed or a wronged gig worker?
3. How much can one expect to earn, realistically, if not located in a major English-speaking country but targeting English or French?
4. How feasible is to start without certifications, PhDs, or something “big” as provable qualifications?
5. Any fiscal issues if located in the EU, say in Germany or in Romania?
6. Any alternative platforms are welcome.