None of them can say they weren’t warned, however. The terms for the contractors are set out in their working conditions. “Do not use AI detection tools, or AI yourself. Do not use GPTZero or any other AI detection tool. They are not reliable. Reviewers may not use AI either, including Grammarly and AI translation, to review, write feedback, or write comments.”

Despite this stark warning, many of the contractors turned to AI to assist in the work. OpenAI is very keen to avoid “model collapse,” a phenomenon in which AI models trained on text written by previous generations of AI models perform worse than their predecessors. It’s a form of digital inbreeding that industry observers have previously warned about, and which could have a deleterious impact on business.

One contractor told 404 Media that it was a common practise. “It’s pretty much the one thing that will get you kicked off ASAP. In a group of thousands, there are tons that have been caught.”