Workers who train Google's Bard say they are overworked and underpaid

Workers who train Google's Bard say they are overworked and underpaid. (Image: Getty Images)

Google uses third-party contractors who are paid as little as $14 per hour to train its OpenAI ChatGPT rival, Bard.

According to Bloomberg, who spoke with several contractors, workers are under extreme pressure to review answers by the AI chatbot, often in under three minutes.

Also read | Google's head of AR quits the company citing 'unstable commitment'

The contractors are from companies such as Appen and Accenture, and are given minimal training to handle their workloads. These have become increasingly complex and larger as Google updates Bard.

"As it stands right now, people are scared, stressed, underpaid, don't know what's going on," an anonymous contractor told Bloomberg.

"And that culture of fear is not conducive to getting the quality and the teamwork that you want out of all of us."

Also read | Google abandons Gen-Z oriented chatbot app: Report

Workers need to grade responses by the chatbot on a scale from "not at all helpful" to "extremely helpful". They also need to review how up to date the responses are.

In a statement shared with Business Insider, a Google spokesperson said that, "Human evaluation – from individuals internal and external to Google – is one of many approaches we use to improve our products."