I'm alarmed... nay, shocked enough that my socks are rolling up and down as I type, that this sneaky
activity was going on! I... (stammer) I just can't believe it.
activity was going on! I... (stammer) I just can't believe it.
Quote:Facebook paid contractors to transcribe voice chats in Messenger app.SOURCE:
'Facebook has been paying hundreds of outside contractors to transcribe voice chats carried out using
the company's Messenger app, it has emerged. The contractors - many from outsourcing firm TaskUs
-were able to hear Facebook users' conversations, sometimes including "vulgar content", according to
Bloomberg.
They were not told where the audio was recorded or why it needed to be transcribed, only to transcribe it.
This led some contractors to feel their work was unethical, according to the people with knowledge of the
matter.
Facebook has confirmed the anonymous reports that it has been transcribing users’ audio, and said it will
no longer do so, following scrutiny of other companies. "Much like Apple and Google , we paused human
review of audio more than a week ago," a spokesperson for the company said.
It added that contractors were checking the accuracy of Facebook's voice-to-text service in Messenger,
which uses artificial intelligence to transcribe conversations.
Users who were affected chose to have their voice chats transcribed in Messenger and granted access
to their phone's microphone for this purpose, according to Facebook.
However, they were not informed that clips of their conversations may be subjected to human review.
Facebook's data-use policy states that its systems "automatically process content and communications
you and others provide to analyse context and what's in them."
But it includes no mention of other human beings screening the content.
The news comes after other major tech firms including Apple, Google and Amazon have all come under
fire for their use of human workers to review voice recordings. They claim that employees listen to these
recordings in order to grade the responses of their AI voice assistants, and make them better at
understanding and replying to users.
Apple and Google have both now paused their review programmes, and Amazon has given users the ability
to opt out of having their voice recordings manually reviewed...'
Edith Head Gives Good Wardrobe.