Google Terminates Contract With Appen For Search Quality Raters via @sejournal, @kristileilani

Google LLC has terminated its contract with Appen, a company that provides search engine evaluations, effective March 2024. The post Google Terminates Contract With Appen For Search Quality Raters appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Jan 22, 2024 - 21:03

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Google Terminates Contract With Appen For Search Quality Raters via @sejournal, @kristileilani

Appen announced that its services with Google will end on March 19, 2024. The company provided search engine evaluations/quality raters.

Google terminated its contract with Appen, ending its services with the company on March 19, 2024. The company has assisted Google with search engine evaluations and quality ratings. Google's contract made up 26% of the Appen's revenue.

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.

search engine evaluator job listing quality rater Screenshot from Google, January 2024

The job listings were likely posted before Google let Appen know about its decision to cancel services.

search ad quality rater job listing appen Screenshot from Google, January 2024

It’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.

Google Terminates Contract With Appen For Search Quality Raters Screenshot from X, January 2024

The news has impacted Appen stock, which is now at an all-time low.

Google Terminates Contract With Appen For Search Quality Raters 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.

Google Terminates Contract With Appen For Search Quality Raters Screenshot from LinkedIn, January 2024

The 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

SEJ STAFF Kristi Hines kristhines.com

Kristi Hines is an Associate News Editor covering the latest news in AI, search, and social media for Search Engine ...