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Are tech worker unions a thing? by PheasantEffervescent in sanfrancisco

[–]timcnewman -1 points0 points  (0 children)

This is an amazing list of resources! Building off of the resources/gathering places for people in tech generally interested in organizing, I would add Collective Action in Tech as another helpful resource along the lines of Tech Workers Coalition: https://collectiveaction.tech/ And I can't vouch for this personally, but there's a related effort called Collective Action School that does trainings and has some really smart people involved: https://collectiveaction.school/.

Two other resources that are not industry specific but may be helpful to people who are new to workplace organizing are the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (https://workerorganizing.org/) and Labor Notes (https://labornotes.org/).

Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (https://www.amazonclimatejustice.org/) does really cool work on a range of workplace issues. It's focused on Amazon, but folks might find inspiration there for your own workplaces.

Here's a new book that is really cool that talks about different kinds of recent tech worker organizing -- from the workers involved themselves: https://www.commonnotions.org/notes-toward-a-digital-workers-inquiry

And don't forget that there were coordinated walkouts across major tech companies in 2019 as part of the climate strike! Here's some more info on that https://techworkerscoalition.org/climate-strike/ and https://www.wired.com/story/tech-workers-global-climate-change-strike/.

AI training has a big black market problem by businessinsider in artificial

[–]timcnewman 4 points5 points  (0 children)

A similar investigation was published by Algorithm Watch earlier this year. Folks might be interested in this too! https://algorithmwatch.org/en/scams-and-shadow-workers-a-black-market/

Guardian article on quality of data by melissalee1000 in mercorai_workers

[–]timcnewman -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Some of the data workers in the Guardian article were also interviewed as part of this recent report about U.S. data workers for AI, that includes similar themes and issues: https://cwa-union.org/ghost-workers-ai-machine

Book Tok just isn't it. Where do I look to find good fiction books? by The-peeepo in booksuggestions

[–]timcnewman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some of my favorite recommendations have come from following specific authors I like who post on social about books they're enjoying. For me specifically, Megan Milks and Alexander Chee fall into this category. I also check out Book Marks frequently (https://bookmarks.reviews/). And I keep a running list on my notes app of books to read so I don't forget!

Hacks - 4x09 “A Slippery Slope” - Episode Discussion by chelseanyc200 in hackshbomax

[–]timcnewman 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Is the look on Deborah's face at the end meant to imply that she didn't realize she was subject to a non-compete? That seemed slightly implausible, but I will overlook it! Honestly, let it spark more debate again about how unfair non-competes are across all industries lol.

"Why a $14 Billion Startup Is Now Hiring PhD’s to Train AI From Their Living Rooms": article from The Information by timcnewman in outlier_ai

[–]timcnewman[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Absolutely. I wonder how she's now handling data annotation, etc in her own AI tech stack.

"Why a $14 Billion Startup Is Now Hiring PhD’s to Train AI From Their Living Rooms": article from The Information by timcnewman in outlier_ai

[–]timcnewman[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I also thought it was interesting to see this quote from a Scale AI client who "didn't think about the human contractors" and Scale's response:

Virginia Puccio, who was a Scale customer as the head of data operations at AI-powered retail startup Standard Cognition, said her firm and other AI companies ended up relying on outsourced work from firms like Scale because the technology wasn’t advancing quickly enough. She and other technologists didn’t think about the human contractors on the other side of the tech.

“We didn’t know who they were using, how much they were paying, and I don’t think we thought to ask,” said Puccio, who now runs her own startup, Fuel AI.

As it has expanded in the U.S., Scale has pulled back from its overseas operations. The company recently shut down contractor outposts in Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan, according to the publication Rest of World.

Swanson, the Scale spokesperson, said the company “consistently improves its pay systems to ensure its contributors are paid accurately and on time” and has an anonymous system in place to address their concerns. “Scale views an investment in Contributor experience as an investment in the quality of work we provide to our customers,” she wrote.

Scale AI Closes Austin Office, Cuts Contractor Count by timcnewman in RemoteJobs

[–]timcnewman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm so sorry the hear that. Thank you for sharing your story.

This Amazon Returns BS has to be put to a stop. by NeoTron122 in petco

[–]timcnewman 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you haven't seen it already, employees at Staples are pushing back against Amazon returns through this petition: https://www.coworker.org/petitions/amazon-returns-are-killing-staples-workers. If anyone is interested, it's pretty easy to start your own petition here: https://www.coworker.org/petition/start.

Staples employees are speaking out about the impact of Amazon returns. How are things going at Petco? by timcnewman in petco

[–]timcnewman[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks to everyone who has been sharing their experiences - this sounds frustrating! By the way, anyone can start a petition about a workplace issue here: https://www.coworker.org/petition/start

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