Uber is Enlisting Freelance Coders for AI Projects to Expand Gig Workforce

Uber Technologies has now included programmers in its gig-economy workforce. The company is broadening its horizons beyond ridesharing to tap into a thriving new sector: assisting other businesses in outsourcing some of their artificial intelligence development to independent contractors.

The newly established AI training and data labeling division, named Scaled Solutions, builds on an internal team that manages extensive annotation tasks for Uber’s rideshare, food delivery, and freight segments. As stated on its website, Scaled Solutions has started servicing other companies that require high-quality datasets. Notable clients include Aurora Innovation Inc., an Uber-backed enterprise that develops self-driving software for commercial trucks, and Niantic, the game developer known for Pokémon Go.

Uber’s pursuit of data labeling services has not been previously covered. This initiative may enable the company to capture a share of a burgeoning market, as global enterprises depend on human input to validate data for training AI models. With a valuation of $14 billion, Scale AI, which provides similar services, stands out as one of the most prominent startups in artificial intelligence.

The rideshare giant has significant experience in recruiting contractors, having done so for years with drivers and couriers. Now, the company is optimistic about assisting other businesses by employing sufficient skilled workers capable of labeling images, text, and videos with context to help machine learning models identify patterns and make accurate predictions and recommendations.

To expand this service for more companies, Uber recently began onboarding contractors with various skill sets in India, the US, Canada, Poland, and Nicaragua. Compensation will vary based on the tasks completed and will be distributed monthly, according to the FAQ section of its onboarding site, separate from the platform for recruiting drivers and delivery couriers.

Additionally, there are corporate job openings for San Francisco, New York, and Chicago-based account executives who will oversee Uber’s interactions with Scaled Solutions’ enterprise clientele.

“Having executed these tasks at scale over the past decade as part of our growth, we have a deep understanding of the requirements of businesses seeking these services,” stated an Uber spokesperson in an email. Hiring independent contractors aligns “with our expertise as one of the world’s largest providers of flexible work opportunities,” the spokesperson added.

The company declined to disclose revenue figures or customer counts, nor did it elaborate on its pricing model for projects.

Uber’s internal Scaled Solutions team operates in the US and India and utilizes both human resources and automated systems to assist in map validation and accurate translations to adapt its rideshare service across various markets. The team has also digitized restaurant menu photos for the Uber Eats app and tested new features on thousands of mobile devices.

Externally, the team is aiding Aurora in ensuring precision when its software identifies objects on the road, including pedestrians, debris, and other vehicles, as per an Aurora spokesperson. Additionally, Uber’s contractors have assessed location data for Niantic, which aims to create a 3D map of the world for its augmented reality experiences and other gaming projects, according to Erin Schaefer, Niantic’s senior vice president overseeing game publishing and operations.

Moreover, Uber intends to recruit workers to leverage their cultural insights to tailor products for local markets or apply their programming expertise to review an AI chatbot’s responses regarding software engineering inquiries.

Before making the platform publicly available, Uber initiated the recruitment of freelancers with coding or linguistic skills to assist in evaluating the outputs of large language models, which form the foundation of generative AI tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft Corp’s Copilot.

An anonymous software engineer based in India mentioned that they were given two AI-generated responses to a complex coding query and instructed to compare and rate the accuracy of these answers against various criteria, including functionality, efficiency, and code formatting, as per documents reviewed by Bloomberg News. The engineer reported completing three queries for a payment of 200 rupees ($2.37) per set.

It remains uncertain how wages will vary across the different locations where Uber is onboarding contractors for Scaled Solutions. The tasks offered are akin to those available on existing annotation platforms like Scale AI’s Remotasks or Data Annotation Tech, which have attracted remote workers desiring to earn supplemental income through online gig work.

This industry has also faced criticism for undercompensating outsourced workers in developing nations. For instance, Remotasks claims on its website to offer up to $18 per hour to English-speaking, US-based workers, yet a report by The Verge revealed that a Remotasks employee in Nairobi earned about $10 for annotating 8 hours of video footage for self-driving cars.

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