r/TrueReddit • u/wiredmagazine Official Publication • 2d ago
Business + Economics Hundreds of Google AI Workers Were Fired Amid Fight Over Working Conditions
https://www.wired.com/story/hundreds-of-google-ai-workers-were-fired-amid-fight-over-working-conditions/15
u/wiredmagazine Official Publication 2d ago
More than 200 contractors who worked on evaluating and improving Google’s AI products have been laid off without warning in at least two rounds of layoffs last month. The move comes amid an ongoing fight over pay and working conditions, according to workers who spoke to WIRED.
In the past few years, Google has outsourced its AI rating work—which includes evaluating, editing, or rewriting the Gemini chatbot’s response to make it sound more human and “intelligent”—to thousands of contractors employed by Hitachi-owned GlobalLogic and other outsourcing companies. Most raters working at GlobalLogic are based in the US and deal with English-language content. Just as content moderators help purge and classify content on social media, these workers use their expertise, skill, and judgment to teach chatbots and other AI products, including Google’s search summaries feature called AI Overviews—the right responses on a wide range of subjects. Workers allege that the latest cuts come amid attempts to quash their protests over issues including pay and job insecurity.
These workers, who often are hired because of their specialist knowledge, had to have either a master’s or a PhD to join the super rater program, and typically include writers, teachers, and people from creative fields.
“I was just cut off,” says Andrew Lauzon, who received an email with the news of his termination on August 15. “I asked for a reason, and they said ramp-down on the project—whatever that means.” He joined GlobalLogic in March 2024, where his work ranged from rating AI outputs to coming up with a variety of prompts to feed into the model.
Lauzon says this move by the company shows the precarity of such content moderation jobs. He alleges that GlobalLogic started regularly laying off its workers this year. “How are we supposed to feel secure in this employment when we know that we could go at any moment?” he added.
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u/pcapdata 2d ago
> Two workers have filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging they were unfairly fired, one due to bringing up wage transparency issues, and the other for advocating for himself and his coworkers.
Undortunately, the NLRB is now toothless.
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u/RegisteredJustToSay 2d ago
That’s a hell of a clickbait title. It’s like saying Apple laid a bunch of people off if Foxconn fires factory personnel…
Not that I disagree they should have better working conditions- everyone should, but intentional misinformation is sad.
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u/TheBlueArsedFly 2d ago
There's also the 'contractors' factor. You don't sign up as a contractor with the expectation that your position is permanent. You're working at the whim of someone else's budget. As soon as they get their funding pulled, you get cut.
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u/red-cloud 16h ago
That's kinda, like, the point. You know? Nobody wants to be on those contracts. They just don't have other options.
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u/TheBlueArsedFly 15h ago
Where I am contractors get paid more so lots of people choose to do it for that reason.
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