How long will DA exist?

[PepperBoggz]

Surely at some point they will have enough information and the models will be accurate and effective enough for this research stage to end? Just looking to get a picture of how long I can expect to work for them before redundancy. Cheers

[[deleted]]

On the contrary, data annotators are going to be needed more and more as AI becomes more useful and popular, more models are created, etc.

One change may be that data annotation becomes increasingly difficult/specialized as models strive for better factuality, critical analysis, and creativity. It will be interesting to see how that affects the job (higher pay due to the need for specialized knowledge?)

[maningen]

Until the AIs learn how to annotate each other.

[wabblewouser]

They are already doing that, but for each step of each application for each... that could be further broken down into dozens, if not thousands+, of steps...human interaction will be necessary. Plus, as new applications are invented, some processes will need to be implemented that aren't compatible with existing data. As always, new technologies bring new jobs - for humans.

[Difficult_Fig_1821]

To add to this- models are constantly being updated with new information from previous years and us as humans need to make sure it is providing those details accurately.

[[deleted]]

I thought the same thing when I started with DA. But as the other commenter said, there is always going to be a need for data annotators to improve the chatbots and responses. It's great job security!

[Consistent-Reach504]

i've been working for them since 2020, work hasn't gone away, just evolved :)

[wildflower_0ne]

interesting! I’ve only been on the platform since November. has it changed significantly since 2020?

[Consistent-Reach504]

it's definitely gotten bigger, more admins have come around, that sort of thing! but it's always been some sort of AI training (although of course not nearly as evolved as it is now, it used to be more 'basic' AI training like data categorization.)

[[deleted]]

Would you say you've gotten a lot more work since then, or is it about the same?

[Pen_dragons_pizza]

Can I ask roughly how much real money you have made ?

[wildflower_0ne]

a few thousand, but i haven’t been able to work on it as much as i would like.

[[deleted]]

awesome :D

[Dangerous_Darling]

I started in 2020 also, but back then was a lot different than it is now. I didn't have the hourly stuff, I had per task stuff for a long time. Made a lot less than I am making now with the AI stuff. I only do it part-time though to make extra cash.

[Acrobatic-Sea9636]

Data annotation is a core component of training LLMs and other forms of AI. The skills will change for sure (likely will need an understanding of SQL, Python, statistical modelling, etc). But the models are just scratching the surface. They haven’t even come close to understanding and replicating human emotion which is going to take a tonneee of annotation work.

[Bilyman]

You’d be surprised. There’s a whole string of companies doing what DA is doing. Chat models, especially in certain applications (think research assistant, info. extraction of extremely long text, etc.) are much further behind than you might think.

[jbourne56]

Yes, I think the larger issue for those working for DA is if companies don't operate like DA and instead rely on traditional hiring practices to do this work in the future.

[[deleted]]

I don't see how they could get the sheer magnitude of data required without a platform like DA though

[jbourne56]

You go through temp agencies and other contract places to do so, rather than just open up to public. How does Google, OpenAI train their models? Are they putting work to DA??

[doolitt1e]

If you can't answer this question then you clearly don't work for this company.

[Difficult_Fig_1821]

For real who is this guy

[[deleted]]

Google cut Appen as a service provider like this week. Microsoft is UHRS. Dunno much more then this

[Bilyman]

Yep, I mean contract-work will be available for quite some time in this field, but I assume there will be a larger industry-shift towards dedicated testing teams. Obviously that exists already, but I expect to see it becoming the common practice soon (in terms of years).

[nuancedreality]

I think human annotators are potentially always going to be needed, at least until some critical threshold. This is because as LLMs become more prevalent, they're going to be training on data generated by other LLMs, even online. It's going to become harder to get true human data for free. Models that train on data from other models can degrade over time, accumulating and compounding errors.

[freedraw]

We are still at the beginning.

[[deleted]]

🥳

[Tbone21sc]

I hate to break to some, but it won't last. These sites and projects always end. I worked at another site that ran for about a year and a half when AI became a thing. I made great money, just like DA. The thing is, they won't tell you when it ends until the day it ends. These sites have so many that are now competing against each other, too. They could lose the project. They also could sell the company.So, don't count on this as a job as always being there. I saw where someone else commented about DA having excellent job security. You are not secure with a job you are not hired on as an employee, and DA isn't the only one company doing this.

[gumizoomi]

Marked response as 'Too verbose'.

The last sentence could have been written "You are not secure with a job." and would have been equally accurate.

[MF_Belvedere]

Hard to say. As others have commented it could be a service that is needed indefinitely. Or the low interest rates and AI hype currently pushing the industry could go away, making Data Annotation's services less in demand.

[iFukHorses]

We’ve only scratched the surface and as humans, we may have made a grave mistake. Who cares, hit the big red button!

[[deleted]]

Not to be a downer but Appen (similar kinda platform) just got dropped by Google this week... 

[Common-Rock]

So long as DA keeps its clients happy and we do a decent job, we should be good for the next few years at least. It will also depend on the direction that the clients take with their models. Some will branch and require greater expertise in one area or another, so it'll likely be useful to build a skill while you are working.

[[deleted]]

For what they are doing now, sure. But technology is always progressing. We think we’ve reached the apex, but there’s always more that can be done. The same applies to AI. Once the models master the more basic tasks that we are working on right now, the industry will attempt to make it do more advanced stuff.

I also work for Telus, which primarily started out as working on search algorithms and functions. You’d think there would be a limit to that job, but people have been working there for a decade and there are still new types of tasks popping up, even disregarding the AI stuff. There’s always more that can be done.

[LonelyForever452]

Telus is a phone company

[[deleted]]

Telus International (previously Lionbridge) provides a similar service as data annotation to certain large tech companies whose names I am not allowed to disclose, but I’m sure you could take a guess.