Google’s voice assistant depends on the labor of hundreds of underpaid, subcontracted linguists. The Alexa competitor’s ability to purchase household items, schedule your day, and answer an array of trivia is actually a bit of “smoke and mirrors” that relies on datasets assembled by underpaid contractors who hope to get permanent positions at Google. This is the latest in a string of criticism directed at tech companies like Google that rely on temporary workers for jobs similar to those of their full-time employees.
[Julia Carrie Wong / Guardian]
Recode Daily: Google’s voice assistant depends on the labor of hundreds of underpaid, subcontracted linguists
Plus: Should white supremacists be allowed on Twitter?
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Rani Molla was a senior correspondent at Vox and has been focusing her reporting on the future of work. She has covered business and technology for more than a decade — often in charts — including at Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal.
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