John Carlos Baez on Nostr: I got an email that says, in part: "My name is Robert, and I'm a Project Manager at ...
I got an email that says, in part:
"My name is Robert, and I'm a Project Manager at Labelbox / Alignerr, the leading data labeling platform for AI.
Your mathematics background at University of California caught my eye, and wanted to reach out to inform you about a part-time, remote side gig opportunity for math PhD's.
We’re working with companies like Google and Meta to advance their AI models (think ChatGPT) in tasks like complex reasoning in subjects such as mathematics. I believe your expertise could play a significant role in these advancements.
Right now, my team has an urgent need for PhD-level experts in Mathematics (or Physics!). We're offering pay of up to $150 per hour."
I would never do such a thing, but I have a former grad student who is desperate for a job, so I passed it on, warning that it could be a scam and not to give away any bank details that could be abused, etc. They replied:
"I've tried one of these "AI contribution" jobs before and while they aren't outright scams, they might as well be. They give you hours of initial assessments, they take weeks to verify you and then they don't assign you any tasks. At no point do you ever interact with an actual person and I'm pretty sure the assessments that they give you are you just doing free work for them. (The assessments consist of "rating" and editing AI-generated solutions to problems as well as writing solutions to problems from scratch.) And the pay is nowhere near $150 an hour, but more like $15."
"My name is Robert, and I'm a Project Manager at Labelbox / Alignerr, the leading data labeling platform for AI.
Your mathematics background at University of California caught my eye, and wanted to reach out to inform you about a part-time, remote side gig opportunity for math PhD's.
We’re working with companies like Google and Meta to advance their AI models (think ChatGPT) in tasks like complex reasoning in subjects such as mathematics. I believe your expertise could play a significant role in these advancements.
Right now, my team has an urgent need for PhD-level experts in Mathematics (or Physics!). We're offering pay of up to $150 per hour."
I would never do such a thing, but I have a former grad student who is desperate for a job, so I passed it on, warning that it could be a scam and not to give away any bank details that could be abused, etc. They replied:
"I've tried one of these "AI contribution" jobs before and while they aren't outright scams, they might as well be. They give you hours of initial assessments, they take weeks to verify you and then they don't assign you any tasks. At no point do you ever interact with an actual person and I'm pretty sure the assessments that they give you are you just doing free work for them. (The assessments consist of "rating" and editing AI-generated solutions to problems as well as writing solutions to problems from scratch.) And the pay is nowhere near $150 an hour, but more like $15."