STOCKHOLM/SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 28 (Reuters) – In the early years, getting AI models like ChatGPT or its rival Cohere to spit out human-like responses required vast teams of low-cost workers helping models distinguish basic facts such as if an image was of a car or a carrot.
But more sophisticated updates to AI models in the fiercely competitive arena are now demanding a rapidly expanding network of human trainers who have specialized knowledge — from historians to scientists, some with doctorate degrees.
“A year ago, we could get away with hiring undergraduates, to just generally teach AI on how to improve,” said Cohere co-founder Ivan Zhang, talking about its internal human trainers.
“Now we have licensed physicians teaching the models how to behave in medical environments, or financial analysts or accountants.”
For more training, Cohere, which was last valued at over $5 billion, works with a startup called Invisible Tech. Cohere is one of the main rivals of OpenAI and specializes in AI for businesses.
The startup Invisible Tech employs thousands of trainers, working remotely, and has become one of the main partners of AI companies ranging from AI21 to Microsoft to train their AI models to reduce errors, known in the AI world as hallucinations.