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My favorite example of this sort of thing, mentioned in the Guardian story, is the kerfuffle late last year when Expensify's receipt-reading SmartScan feature w

My favorite example of this sort of thing, mentioned in the Guardian story, is the kerfuffle late last year when Expensify's receipt-reading SmartScan feature was found out to be partly backed by human receipt readers: https://qz.com/1141695/startup-expensifys-smart-scanning-technology-used-humans-hired-on-amazon-mechanical-turk/ https://qz.com/1141695/startup-expensifys-smart-scanning-tec... (I don't file expenses often, but personally when I do so through Expensify, I find SmartScan so slow that I now assume all my "SmartScanned" receipts are going to a human.)

baybal2 8y ago
Quote from the article >How to start an AI startup >1. Hire a bunch of minimum wage humans to pretend to be AI pretending to be human >2. Wait for AI to be invented
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- chris123 8y ago
  Translation: Lean Startup Concierge/Wizard of Oz MVP. For anyone wanting to learn or refresh about that, here's a descent article I just Googled up (I reviewed a few and picked this one): https://grasshopperherder.com/concierge-vs-wizard-of-oz-test/ https://grasshopperherder.com/concierge-vs-wizard-of-oz-test...
vultour 8y ago
How do they handle bogus results from MTurk? I know people that tried to use it and had to stop because 95% of the "workers" just put meaningless data in hoping you don't notice and they get paid.
- JimmyAustin 8y ago
  It depends on the task, but if you can get them to do multiple tasks in one, you can ask them to do a task you already know the answer to. If they get the known answer wrong, instant reject.
- PretzelFisch 8y ago
  Couldn't you just solve that by sending the job to multiple workers and comparing the results?
  - shanghaiaway 8y ago
    Think about it.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
  - vultour 8y ago
    That's an obvious solution, but you might start approaching a point where it's actually cheaper to hire a dedicated person for it.
    - srtjstjsj 8y ago
      That doesn't solve the problem of a person being wrong.
jpking 8y ago
I consulted with a great company in this field and they also use a mix of OCR and humans. Difference is they have trained in-house staff, rather than farming it out to just anyone for the cheapest they can get.

baybal2 8y ago

Quote from the article >How to start an AI startup >1. Hire a bunch of minimum wage humans to pretend to be AI pretending to be human >2. Wait for AI to be invented

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
chris123 8y ago
Translation: Lean Startup Concierge/Wizard of Oz MVP. For anyone wanting to learn or refresh about that, here's a descent article I just Googled up (I reviewed a few and picked this one): https://grasshopperherder.com/concierge-vs-wizard-of-oz-test/ https://grasshopperherder.com/concierge-vs-wizard-of-oz-test...

vultour 8y ago

How do they handle bogus results from MTurk? I know people that tried to use it and had to stop because 95% of the "workers" just put meaningless data in hoping you don't notice and they get paid.

JimmyAustin 8y ago
It depends on the task, but if you can get them to do multiple tasks in one, you can ask them to do a task you already know the answer to. If they get the known answer wrong, instant reject.
PretzelFisch 8y ago
Couldn't you just solve that by sending the job to multiple workers and comparing the results?
- shanghaiaway 8y ago
  Think about it.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- vultour 8y ago
  That's an obvious solution, but you might start approaching a point where it's actually cheaper to hire a dedicated person for it.
  - srtjstjsj 8y ago
    That doesn't solve the problem of a person being wrong.

jpking 8y ago

I consulted with a great company in this field and they also use a mix of OCR and humans. Difference is they have trained in-house staff, rather than farming it out to just anyone for the cheapest they can get.