According to WIRED, OpenAI is requesting that contractors upload work projects from their past jobs as part of an effort to evaluate the performance of AI agents in office work scenarios.
The initiative appears aimed at preparing AI agents for real-world workplace tasks by testing them against authentic work examples. However, the approach places the responsibility for data handling on contractors themselves.
WIRED reports that contractors are expected to strip out confidential and personally identifiable information from these past work projects before uploading them. This requirement raises potential concerns about data privacy and the practicality of adequately sanitizing sensitive business materials, as contractors must determine what constitutes confidential information and ensure complete removal.
The report does not specify what types of work projects OpenAI is seeking, how the uploaded materials will be used in evaluating AI agents, or what safeguards are in place beyond contractor-led data sanitization. No details were provided about compensation for contractors or the scale of this data collection effort.
This development comes as companies across the AI industry work to develop more capable AI agents that can perform complex workplace tasks, requiring realistic test scenarios and evaluation datasets.