Country for PR: United States
Contributor: PR Newswire New York
Thursday, October 24 2019 - 00:00
AsiaNet
Appen Announces Crowd Code of Ethics to Build Better AI
SYDNEY, Oct. 24, 2019 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --

  -- Initiative Promotes Fair Pay, Inclusivity, and Well-being for 
     Contractors Worldwide; Appen Joins Global Impact Sourcing Coalition (GISC)

Appen Limited, the leading provider of high-quality datasets needed by 
companies and governments to train AI systems quickly and at scale, today 
unveiled its Crowd Code of Ethics. The initiative reflects the importance of 
the Crowd's well-being in creating the data for AI systems and applications 
that people worldwide increasingly use and depend on every day. Moreover, it 
formalizes the best practices Appen has developed over the past several years 
to support and promote contractor wellness. Appen is also now a proud member of 
the Global Impact Sourcing Coalition (GISC), a global network of businesses 
creating jobs for those most in need.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/959711/Appen_Logo.jpg

"The AI industry depends on the people who collect and label the data," said 
Appen CEO Mark Brayan. "They help make machine learning-empowered solutions 
possible and today we are formalizing our commitment to their well-being. We 
believe that our customers should know that their partners stand for the 
ethical treatment of contractors."

Appen's Crowd Code of Ethics comprises six principles:

Fair Pay
Our goal is to pay our Crowd above minimum wage in every market around the 
world where we operate.

Inclusion
A diverse, inclusive culture is vital to our mission of helping build better 
AI. We offer opportunities for individuals of all abilities and backgrounds.

Crowd Voice
Our Crowd has a valued voice at Appen, and their feedback helps us to 
continuously improve.

Privacy and Confidentiality
Any information collected about the Crowd is requested solely for the purposes 
of the project. Appen takes precautions to protect that information and does 
not release private data on individuals to third parties without consent.

Communication
We believe in helpful, transparent, and responsive lines of communication with 
our Crowd.

Well-being
Appen promotes wellness, community, and connections through online forums and 
best practices.

Appen's Crowd Care team will support wellness by ensuring the company's 
adherence to the Crowd Code of Ethics and will educate customers about its 
benefits.

"Our Crowd Code of Ethics is important to ensuring that our Crowd is treated 
equitably around the world," said Kerri Reynolds, Appen's senior vice president 
of Crowd Sourcing Operations and Human Resources. "The Code of Ethics aligns 
with our corporate values and demonstrates our commitment to Crowd wellness."

Sebastian Kohlmeier at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2) 
added, "We support Appen's efforts to develop a Code of Ethics for its crowd. 
We believe these considerations are essential for both the crowd and the 
industry to thrive, and this complements our ethical pricing and best practices 
guidelines we issued earlier this year." The Allen Institute for Artificial 
Intelligence was founded in 2014 by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen to conduct 
AI research and engineering in service of the common good. 

Appen Joins Global Impact Sourcing Coalition to Help Build More Inclusive 
Supply Chains

In addition to launching its Crowd Code of Ethics, Appen is now a member of the 
Global Impact Sourcing Coalition ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2619466-1&h=2366081509&u=https%3A%2F%2Fgisc.bsr.org%2Fabout%2Fwhat-is-the-gisc&a=Global+Impact+Sourcing+Coalition 
), an organization whose mission is to "build more inclusive global supply 
chains through advancing wide-scale adoption of Impact Sourcing." The alignment 
between Appen's Code of Ethics and GISC's mission creates a strong partnership 
in the effort to provide opportunities for individuals around the world.

About Appen

Appen collects and labels images, text, speech, audio, and video used to build 
and continuously improve the world's most innovative artificial intelligence 
systems. With expertise in more than 180 languages, a global crowd of over 1 
million skilled contractors, and the industry's most advanced AI-assisted data 
annotation platform, Appen solutions provide the quality, security, and speed 
required by leaders in technology, automotive, financial services, retail, 
manufacturing, and governments worldwide. Founded in 1996, Appen has customers 
and offices around the world.

Source - Appen

CONTACT: Jodie Ruby, VP Marketing, Appen, jruby@appen.com; or Sammy Totah, BOCA 
Communications for Appen, Sammy@bocacommunications.com