AI isn’t just gunning for creatives. According to a report from Semafor, ChatGPT is allegedly planning to hire an army of contract coders to train its LLM in coding. This means that entry-level coding jobs may soon be a thing of the past.
According to the report, ChatGPT has hired about 1,000 contractors, primarily from Eastern Europe and Latin America, over the past six months. While 60 percent of these hires work on data labelling, the other 40 percent create software engineering datasets for AI training.
“They most likely want to feed this model with a very specific kind of training data,” an anonymous programmer applying for the position told Semafor, “where the human provides a step-by-step layout of their thought process.”
Allegedly, applicants must complete coding exams in which they solve basic programming problems and explain their work in English text. The exams take five hours which applicants do not receive payment for.
Coders are training OpenAI’s codex
Codex is ChatGPT creator’s code-generating AI. The AI takes text prompts and translates them into working code, Codex has primarily been trained on code from GitHub. Already the AI is somewhat successfully aiding programmers by autocompleting code and checking it for spelling errors. In fact, Github’s Co-pilot software which checks for syntax errors, actually runs on Codex.
High-level programmers have little to worry about. It will be quite some time before the AI can create complex code. However, this could mean entry-level programming jobs will begin to disappear, making it hard for programmers fresh out of college to land a job.
The threat of generative AIs
As generative AIs begin to threaten various jobs, many are stating their distaste for the new technology. Artists are taking a stand against image-generative AIs, some even going so far as to sue the creators. However, despite some backlash, many others fully support LLMs.
Jack Brassell is a freelance journalist and aspiring novelist. Jack is a self-proclaimed nerd with a lifelong passion for storytelling. As an author, Jack writes mostly horror and young adult fantasy. Also an avid gamer, she works as the lead news editor at Hardcore Droid. When she isn't writing or playing games, she can often be found binge-watching Parks & Rec or The Office, proudly considering herself to be a cross between Leslie Knope and Pam Beasley.
