Update: New listings for search quality raters have appeared in Google jobs search results as of January 26, 2024.
Screenshot from Google, January 2024Google Terminates Contract For Inbound Services With Appen
In a recent announcement, Appen disclosed a notification from Google LLC, received on January 20, 2024, to cancel its global inbound services contract.
This would end Appen services provided to Google by March 19, 2024.
The company is a source of search engine evaluators (quality raters) for Google, as noted in recent job listings from the company.
Screenshot from Google, January 2024The job listings were likely posted before Google let Appen know about its decision to cancel services.
Screenshot from Google, January 2024It’s unclear what the cancellation of the Appen contract means for the Search Quality Rater program. Google updated its Search Quality Rater Guidelines in November 2023.
Screenshot from X, January 2024The news has impacted Appen stock, which is now at an all-time low.
Screenshot from Google, January 2024
The announcement from Appen comes after Google layoffs in several departments, with more to come, according to its CEO, Sundar Pichai. The effort is to help the company reach its goals in artificial intelligence development.
Frustration over a second year of January layoffs has led employees to criticize Google’s leadership for lacking vision and initiative, describing the executives as “boring” and without clear direction on social media.
Screenshot from LinkedIn, January 2024The post argues that Google has failed to launch successful executive-driven projects in recent years, often abandoning initiatives if they don’t quickly gain massive user numbers.
The engineer notes a lack of consistent priorities, with executives vaguely pointing towards AI while simultaneously conducting widespread layoffs across various departments.
This has led to a culture of nihilism and fear among employees, who feel demotivated and uncertain about their future at the company.
Featured image: photosince/Shutterstock
