Contractors claim Handshake AI withholding thousands in OpenAI project payments

A number of contractors associated with Handshake AI allege the AI training startup has denied them payment totaling thousands for completed work, citing breaches of platform policies.

Many others who assert they've worked with Handshake have shared similar accounts online, and the company is now facing two lawsuits from contractors over non-payment.

San Francisco's Handshake AI has grown from a career platform for young workers to a participant in the data-labeling sector. 

This aligns it with a wave of startups hiring vast numbers of part-time workers worldwide to refine, rate, and guide AI outputs for major AI firms. 

These data tasks enhance technologies from laundry-folding machines to OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Five contractors engaged in OpenAI projects revealed to Business Insider that Handshake unexpectedly suspended their accounts late December through January.

Four of these contractors did not receive any payment for their work. They recounted attempting to access their accounts only to discover the suspension.

The contractors explained that when they raised the concern, the company responded that they had breached their contract, which justified termination. Consequently, the company claimed they were not entitled to their earnings.

According to communications with Handshake support reviewed by Business Insider, one contractor was informed they breached one or more criteria: inconsistencies existed in their background information; task completion time was significantly longer than industry standards; and tasks were performed from outside the US, which was prohibited.

The contractor refuted these allegations to both Handshake and Business Insider, asserting such issues should have been addressed before they invested approximately 50 hours on the platform. 

This individual, based in the US, was not paid for their efforts, resulting in several hundred dollars of uncompensated labor.

"This decision is definitive. There are no appeals, and any work associated with this infraction is not payable,” Handshake support informed the contractor in an email.

The experiences of three other contractors mirrored this account closely. In total, they reported several thousand dollars in lost wages.