Implementing Responsible Data Enrichment Practices at an AI Developer: The Example of DeepMind

Sonam Jindal

Executive Summary

Executive Summary

As demand for AI services grows, so, too, does the need for the enriched data used to train and validate machine learning (ML) models. While these datasets can only be prepared by humans, the data enrichment workers who do so (performing tasks like data annotation, data cleaning, and human review of algorithmic outputs) are an often-overlooked part of the development lifecycle, frequently working in poor conditions continents away from AI-developing companies and their customers.

Workers

For the purposes of this white paper we refer to individuals completing data enrichment as “workers.” In doing so, we recognize the variety of employment statuses that can exist in the data enrichment industry, including independent contractors on self-service crowdsourcing platforms, subcontractors of data enrichment providers, and full-time employees.

Last year, the Partnership on AI (PAI) published “
Responsible Sourcing of Data Enrichment Services
,” a white paper exploring how the choices made by AI practitioners could improve the working conditions of these data enrichment professionals. This case study documents an effort to put that paper’s recommendations into practice at one AI developer: DeepMind, a PAI Partner.

In addition to creating guidance for responsible AI development and deployment, PAI’s Theory of Change includes collaborating with Partners and others to implement our recommendations in practice. From these collaborations, PAI collects findings which help us further develop our curriculum of responsible AI resources. This case study serves as one such resource, offering a detailed account of DeepMind’s process and learnings for other organizations interested in improving their data enrichment sourcing practices.

Sourcing enriched data
Sourcing data enrichment work is a process that requires a number of steps including, but not limited to, defining the enrichment goal, choosing the enrichment provider, defining the enrichment tools, defining the technical requirements, writing instructions, ensuring that instructions make sense, setting worker hours, determining time spent on a particular task, communicating with enrichment workers, rejecting or accepting work, defining a project budget, determining workers’ payment, checking work quality, and providing performance feedback.

After assessing DeepMind’s existing practices and identifying what was needed to consistently source enriched data responsibly, PAI and DeepMind worked together to prototype the necessary policies and resources. The Responsible Data Enrichment Implementation Team (which consisted of PAI and members of DeepMind’s Responsible Development and Innovation team, which we will refer to as “the implementation team” in this case study) then collected multiple rounds of feedback, testing the following outputs and changes with smaller teams before they were rolled out organization-wide:

A two-page document offering fundamental guidelines for responsible data enrichment sourcing
An updated ethics review process
A checklist detailing what constitutes “good instructions” for data enrichment workers
A table to easily compare the salient features of various data enrichment platforms and vendors
A spreadsheet listing the living wages in areas where data enrichment workers commonly live

Versions of these resources have been added to PAI’s responsible data enrichment sourcing library and are now available for any organization that wishes to improve its data enrichment sourcing practices.

Ultimately, DeepMind’s multidisciplinary teams developing AI research, including applied AI researchers (or “researchers” for the purposes of this case study, though this term might be defined differently elsewhere) said that these new processes felt efficient and helped them think more deeply about the impact of their work on data enrichment workers. They also expressed gratitude for centralized guidance that had been developed through a rigorous process, removing the burden for them to individually figure out how to set up data enrichment projects.

Data Enrichment

Data enrichment is curation of data for the purposes of machine learning model development that requires human judgment and intelligence. This can include data preparation, cleaning, labeling, and human review of algorithmic outputs, sometimes performed in real time.

Examples of data enrichment work:

Data preparation, annotation, cleaning, and validation:
Intent recognition, Sentiment tagging, Image labeling

Human review (sometimes referred to as “human in the loop”):
Content moderation, Validating low confidence algorithmic predictions, Speech-to-text error correction

While organizations hoping to adopt these resources may want to similarly engage with their teams to make sure their unique use cases are accounted for, we hope these tested resources will provide a better starting point to incorporate responsible data enrichment practices into their own workflows. Furthermore, to identify where the implemented changes fall short of ideal, we plan to continue developing this work through engagement and convenings. To stay informed, sign up for updates on PAI’s Responsible Sourcing Across the Data Supply Line Workstream page.

This case study details the process by which DeepMind adopted responsible data enrichment sourcing recommendations as organization-wide practice, how challenges that arose during this process were addressed, and the impact on the organization of adopting these recommendations. By sharing this account of how DeepMind did it and why they chose to invest time to do so, we intend to inspire other organizations developing AI to undertake similar efforts. It is our hope that this case study and these resources will empower champions within AI organizations to create positive change.

Implementing Responsible Data Enrichment Practices at an AI Developer: The Example of DeepMind

Executive Summary

Background

Importance of Data Enrichment Workers and Pathways to Improve Working Conditions

Case Study as a Method of Increasing Transparency and Sharing Actionable Guidance

Background on DeepMind’s Motivations

Process and Outcomes of the DeepMind and PAI Collaboration

Changes and Resources Introduced to Support Adoption of Recommendations

Two-Page Data Enrichment Sourcing Guidelines Document

Adapted Review Process

Good Instructions Checklist

Vendor and Platform Feature Comparison Table

Living Wages Spreadsheet

Addressing Practical Complexities That Arose While Finalizing Changes

Assessing Clarity of Guidelines and Rolling Out Changes Organization-Wide

Reactions, Impact, and Next Steps

Response from Research and Development Teams

Key Stakeholders/Leadership Reflections and Motivations

Continued Work for DeepMind

Limitations of Case Study Applicability

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Appendix A: Initial Discovery Process and Getting Reactions to PAI Responsible Sourcing Recommendations

Sources Cited

  1. Geiger, R. Stuart, et al. “Garbage in, garbage out? Do machine learning application papers in social computing report where human-labeled training data comes from?.” Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency. 2020
  2. Denton, Emily, et al. “On the genealogy of machine learning datasets: A critical history of ImageNet.” Big Data u0026amp; Society 8.2 (2021): 20539517211035955.
  3. Hutchinson, Ben, et al. “Towards accountability for machine learning datasets: Practices from software engineering and infrastructure.” Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency. 2021
  4. Gray, Mary L., and Siddharth Suri. Ghost work: How to stop Silicon Valley from building a new global underclass. Eamon Dolan Books, 2019
  5. Geiger, R. Stuart, et al. “Garbage in, garbage out? Do machine learning application papers in social computing report where human-labeled training data comes from?.” Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency. 2020
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Responsible Sourcing of Data Enrichment Services

PAI Staff

As AI becomes increasingly pervasive, there has been growing and warranted concern over the effects of this technology on society. To fully understand these effects, however, one must closely examine the AI development process itself, which impacts society both directly and through the models it creates. This white paper, “Responsible Sourcing of Data Enrichment Services,” addresses an often overlooked aspect of the development process and what AI practitioners can do to help improve it: the working conditions of data enrichment professionals, without whom the value being generated by AI would be impossible. This paper’s recommendations will be an integral part of the shared prosperity targets being developed by Partnership on AI (PAI) as outlined in the AI and Shared Prosperity Initiative’s Agenda.

High-precision AI models are dependent on clean and labeled datasets. While obtaining and enriching data so it can be used to train models is sometimes perceived as a simple means to an end, this process is highly labor-intensive and often requires data enrichment workers to review, classify, and otherwise manage massive amounts of data. Despite the foundational role played by these data enrichment professionals, a growing body of research reveals the precarious working conditions these workers face. This may be the result of efforts to hide AI’s dependence on this large labor force when celebrating the efficiency gains of technology. Out of sight is also out of mind, which can have deleterious consequences for those being ignored.

Data Enrichment Choices Impact Worker Well-being

There is, however, an opportunity to make a difference. The decisions AI developers make while procuring enriched data have a meaningful impact on the working conditions of data enrichment professionals. This paper focuses on how these sourcing decisions impact workers and proposes avenues for AI developers to meaningfully improve their working conditions, outlining key worker-oriented considerations that practitioners can use as a starting point to raise conversations with internal teams and vendors. Specifically, this paper covers worker-centric considerations for AI companies making decisions in:

  • selecting data enrichment providers,
  • running pilots,
  • designing data enrichment tasks and writing instructions,
  • assigning tasks,
  • defining payment terms and pricing,
  • establishing a communication cadence with workers,
  • conducting quality assurance,
  • and offboarding workers from a project.

This paper draws heavily on insights and input gathered during semi-structured interviews with members of the AI enrichment ecosystem conducted throughout 2020 as well as during a five-part workshop series held in the fall of 2020. The workshop series brought together more than 30 professionals from different areas of the data enrichment ecosystem, including representatives from data enrichment providers, researchers and product managers at AI companies, and leaders of civil society and labor organizations. We’d like to thank all of them for their engaged participation and for valuable feedback. We’d also like to thank Elonnai Hickok for serving as the lead researcher on the project and Heather Gadonniex for her committed support and championship. Finally, this work would not be possible without the invaluable guidance, expertise, and generosity of Mary Gray.

Our intention with this paper is to aid the industry in accounting for wellbeing when making decisions about data enrichment and to set the stage for further conversations within and across AI organizations. Additional work is needed to ensure industry practices recognize, appreciate, and fairly compensate the workers conducting data enrichment. To that end, we want to use this paper as an opportunity to increase awareness amongst practitioners and launch a series of conversations. We recognize that there is a lot of variance in practices across the industry and hope to start a productive dialogue with organizations across the spectrum who are working through these questions. If you work at a company involved in building AI and want to host a conversation with your colleagues around data enrichment practices, we would love to join and help facilitate the conversation. If you are interested, please get in touch here.

To read “Responsible Sourcing of Data Enrichment Services” in full, click here.

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