Google has canceled a major contract with Appen, an Australian data services company, in a move that could lead to the extinction of thousands of quality assurance jobs.
Appen, which provides a substantial number of third-party search quality evaluators for Google, was hit by the termination notice and is expected to result in a loss of $82.8 million in revenue for the company
Google Quality Raters play a crucial role in evaluating the quality of Google search results. Although they do not directly influence the results, their work helps evaluate the performance of Google’s different search ranking systems.
Is this just the beginning?
This decision, which will take effect on March 19, 2024, could have a significant impact on search engine optimization (SEO).
It is unclear whether Google plans to terminate contracts with other partners that provide search quality evaluators or whether it intends to replace those evaluators with others from different partners. However, speculation is rife that Google might replace all quality raters with AI, a move that aligns with recent layoffs from the Google Ads team.
Terminating the contract with Appen could signal a significant shift in Google’s approach to improving search quality. For more than a decade, human search quality raters have been central to Google’s process. If replaced by AI, the quality of search results could be affected, although the extent of this impact remains uncertain.
A Google spokesperson said Land of seekers “Our decision to terminate the contract was made as part of our ongoing effort to evaluate and adjust many of our supplier partnerships at Alphabet to ensure our supplier operations are as efficient as possible.”
This movement was first detected by Cyrus Shepard in X.
HUGE removal for Google Quality RatersGoogle cancels contract with Appen/RaterLabs (the company that hires me as a quality rater) I have no idea what this means for the quality rater program pic.twitter.com /rzScBe4DvnJanuary 22, 2024
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