OpenAI contractors asked to upload real work from past and current jobs

TechCrunch
TechCrunch
10h ago
OpenAI and Handshake AI are asking third-party contractors to upload examples of real work they did in past and current jobs for training data, with instructions to remove proprietary and personally identifiable information before uploading.
OpenAI contractors asked to upload real work from past and current jobs
A What happened
OpenAI and training data company Handshake AI are asking third-party contractors to upload real work they did in past and current jobs, according to Wired. A company presentation asks contractors to describe tasks performed at other jobs and upload examples of “real, on-the-job work” they have done, including actual files such as Word documents, PDFs, PowerPoints, Excel files, images, or code repositories. Contractors are instructed to delete proprietary and personally identifiable information and are directed to a ChatGPT “Superstar Scrubbing” tool. Intellectual property lawyer Evan Brown said this approach puts an AI lab at great risk because it requires substantial trust in contractors to decide what is confidential.

Key insights

  • 1

    Confidentiality risk depends on contractor judgment: Evan Brown said the approach puts an AI lab at great risk because it requires a lot of trust in contractors to decide what is and is not confidential.

  • 2

    Contractors are directed to scrub sensitive information: Contractors are instructed to delete proprietary and personally identifiable information and are pointed to a ChatGPT “Superstar Scrubbing” tool.

Takeaways

OpenAI and Handshake AI are seeking real workplace files from contractors for training data while relying on contractors to remove confidential and personally identifiable information.

Topics

Technology & Innovation Artificial Intelligence World & Politics Policy & Regulation

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