Summary
- Uber started a pilot project in the US for drivers and delivery people to train AI with microtasks.
- There, the app also gained improvements such as a heat map, more details about races and a safety feature for female drivers.
- The news is restricted to the country and, for now, is not expected to reach other regions, including Brazil.
Uber will start a new pilot project in the United States for its drivers and delivery people to train artificial intelligence. The initiative allows partners to earn extra money by performing “microtasks” directly through the application, such as recording audio, capturing images and sending documents in specific languages.
The move comes shortly after Uber acquired the startup Segments.ai, specialized in data labeling for AI. With the new venture, the company aims to strengthen its own AI solutions business. The company would already be carrying out similar tests with drivers in India, according to the The Register.
The idea is to use Uber’s vast network of drivers and delivery people to collect and classify data that feeds and improves AI models. The company positions the new feature as another form of “flexible work” within the platform.
What are microtasks?
The tasks proposed to drivers are varied and include sending images of cars, recording themselves speaking their own language or local dialect and sending a photo of a document written in a certain language.
With the initiative, Uber enters a market currently dominated by platforms such as Scale AI and Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, which use freelance labor, mostly outside the US, to perform data labeling — an intensive process to improve data quality, essential for the development of any AI today.
More news in the app
The announcement of AI microtasks is part of a larger package of changes that Uber will implement in the US to, according to CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, build “the best platform for flexible work”.
Among the other new features, the app will now provide more information about races to drivers on the travel offers screen, redesigned to give them more time and details before they decide to accept or decline a ride. Furthermore, the tool that indicates areas of high demand has been improved, with a new heat map showing average waiting times and where dynamic pricing is active.
As for safety, the company continues to expand the feature for female drivers to only accept female passengers. A similar function has already existed in Brazil since 2020, U-Elas. In addition, drivers will gain another filter, being able to define a minimum rating for passengers.
Responding to one of the main criticisms from drivers about bad reviews, the company also committed to listening to partners’ versions before making decisions about complaints (and may ban passengers who make false reports) — it is not clear, however, how the service will reach the conclusion of who is right or wrong.
In case of true complaints, instead of completely blocking the account, in mild cases, Uber will start limiting access to specific categories of the service. Serious violations, however, may still result in a ban.
For now, the news is only available in the USA, with no expected arrival in Brazil and other regions.
With information from The Verge
Source: https://tecnoblog.net/noticias/mais-uma-tarefa-para-motorista-de-uber-treinar-a-ia/
