As someone on both sides of the issue I think this is good. I worked in tech my whole life and then drove an Uber in retirement. Uber is basically saying "We're partnering with Waymo to eliminate drivers, so here's something to help pay you while you transition to another job."
Uber will offer gig work like AI data labeling to drivers while not on the road
61–70 of 111 posts
Re: Uber will offer gig work like AI data labeling to drivers while not on the road
#62Somebody really needs to put a stop to what Uber and the like are doing. They are doing their best to destroy basic labor protections, by circumventing employing their workers. Why are countries just allowing them to clown on established worker protections? If you want to pay someone to do something employ them . The roll out of the gig economy is only viable because it allows companies to push costs on to the labor…
Someone should write a "Gig Striker" app (or web site) for mobile phones. When you sign on you select the company you work for and have access to group chats, forums (by region?). If a thread gets going on striking, the word can be put out on the app and all Uber drivers, just to pick an arbitrary example, refuse to accept calls for one day (again, as an example). It would be an interesting experiment and tell us a l…
I’ve got a brilliant idea! What if, hear me out, we had some kind of united alliance of workers, and they could do things like leverage their collective labor power to negotiate better working conditions and/or pay? We might call them something, let’s say “unions”, and we could even setup some sort of National Labor Relations Board to ensure fair access to them, and to help settle disputes? Then we might get some of the things we need, even without resorting to labor strikes, which are disruptive and expensive to everyone on all sides.
Surely this is possible, and companies like Uber haven’t been sandbagging and poisoning the well for decades?
Re: Uber will offer gig work like AI data labeling to drivers while not on the road
#63As someone on both sides of the issue I think this is good. I worked in tech my whole life and then drove an Uber in retirement. Uber is basically saying "We're partnering with Waymo to eliminate drivers, so here's something to help pay you while you transition to another job."
It's literally "We're partnering with Waymo to eliminate drivers, so here's something to help make your job disappear faster."
Re: Uber will offer gig work like AI data labeling to drivers while not on the road
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
Someone should write a "Gig Striker" app (or web site) for mobile phones. When you sign on you select the company you work for and have access to group chats, forums (by region?). If a thread gets going on striking, the word can be put out on the app and all Uber drivers, just to pick an arbitrary example, refuse to accept calls for one day (again, as an example). It would be an interesting experiment and tell us a l…
I’ve got a brilliant idea! What if, hear me out, we had some kind of united alliance of workers, and they could do things like leverage their collective labor power to negotiate better working conditions and/or pay? We might call them something, let’s say “unions”, and we could even setup some sort of National Labor Relations Board to ensure fair access to them, and to help settle disputes? Then we might get some of…
I bet it’d be so popular, we would set aside a whole Federal holiday to commemorate all of the people who fought, and/or died, to win these basic labor protections 100-years ago! We’ll call it “Labor Day” and everyone will eat hot dogs while totally not spacing on the fact that they even enjoy “holidays” at all due to these very fights.
Re: Uber will offer gig work like AI data labeling to drivers while not on the road
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
Pretty wishful thinking to think software and hardware is advanced enough to figure out very advanced materials science and physics to do those tasks requiring manipulation of objects in the real world. Maybe it happens, maybe it doesn’t, but manipulating digital output seems like a step that would come before manipulating real world objects.
I think you need to get past the literal examples to the concept that they are saying "I wanted AI to free me from the mundane, not imprison me with it". This has long been the promise from the same people who now appear to be quite happy to turn us into the Matrix-style feedstock for AI (again, not literal - but maybe literally?). Natural extrapolation: they may be the last to go, but it won't need them either. How…
The literal examples show that their concept is or was a fantasy (within a short timeframe of one person's lifetime).
I don't know why one would have expected "AI" to be capable of stamping out machines that have fine motor skills, but to me, it seems perfectly in line that they can re-arrange pixels on a screen to mimic something humans previously made.
The parameters for folding laundry in each individual's home or doing the dishes are so much greater than deconstructing and re-arranging digital information based on prior probabilities.
All the "smart" people I know were not expecting to replace their HVAC/plumbing/electrical/house cleaners/etc work with automation.
Re: Uber will offer gig work like AI data labeling to drivers while not on the road
#66As someone on both sides of the issue I think this is good. I worked in tech my whole life and then drove an Uber in retirement. Uber is basically saying "We're partnering with Waymo to eliminate drivers, so here's something to help pay you while you transition to another job."
It's literally "We're partnering with Waymo to eliminate drivers, so here's something to help make your job disappear faster."
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Re: Uber will offer gig work like AI data labeling to drivers while not on the road
#67Uber Monkey
Re: Uber will offer gig work like AI data labeling to drivers while not on the road
#68As someone on both sides of the issue I think this is good. I worked in tech my whole life and then drove an Uber in retirement. Uber is basically saying "We're partnering with Waymo to eliminate drivers, so here's something to help pay you while you transition to another job."
It's literally "We're partnering with Waymo to eliminate drivers, so here's something to help make your job disappear faster."
When I was a kid growing up in the space age 1960's a popular phrase was "you can't stop progress!" I guess it helped people cope with the world changing.
Re: Uber will offer gig work like AI data labeling to drivers while not on the road
#69Here’s a few bucks for helping us eliminate your jobs, isn’t that awesome? That said I shouldn’t laugh, I get at least weekly offers in my mailbox to make up to $50/hr or something to help train models to replace programmers…
I recently browsed engineering job ads at x.ai where they looked for experienced software developers as data labelers for about 60 bucks / hour - so they work on replacing their own profession for a low pay. Funny times.
Re: Uber will offer gig work like AI data labeling to drivers while not on the road
#70The whole "AI revolution" feels distopian opposite from what I'd naively thought it would do. My ideal would be a world in which boring, heavy, dangerous, etc work is replaced by machines. Giving humans time and opportunity to pursue creative, fun, stimulating or intellectually challenging tasks. In which only legit people, and never spammers or scammers get me on the phone. Where I don't have to juggle appointments,…
Usually boring and dangerous are harder problems that easy work.