14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft hired contractors for listen Xbox players through Cortana, a new report has revealed. The sad part is that it’s by no means a singular event, for Microsoft and other tech companies.
Elon Musk is trying really hard to warn people about the impending danger coming from AI systems, but the truth is that those AI systems are far from becoming a threat. Companies still rely on people to train them, and even with this method, their rate of success is not great.
We love using Siri or Google Assistant for various tasks (who’s actually using Bixby?), not to mention that they are handy in situations where it’s impossible or not recommended to use the hands. But that usage comes with a price.
It’s no longer done, apparently
A Vice report revealed that snippets recorded on Xbox via Cortana were managed by third-party contractors. Just last week, it was uncovered that Microsoft used independent contractors to listen to bits from Skype Translator engine and Cortana. The goal was the same, and that was to improve the AI systems.
To make things even worse, it turns out that Microsoft has been collecting data from Kinect as well before Cortana was made available. It’s also true that Microsoft said that it made it clear beforehand than it collects voice data and that it’s going to be reviewed by people.
The contractor who spoke with Vice said that Xbox data was just a minor part of their activity, but as time passed, that was all they were doing. It’s worth mentioning that data was anonymized, but it’s still an annoying fact.
All of the tech companies that were using this type of service have abandoned their practices in 2019, including Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon. Or at least, they’ve dropped the ones we know about. They still need some way to train their AIs.