Finland-based startup Vainu is bringing AI training jobs to select prisons

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In context: There's no denying that prison can be a pretty rough place for the inmates that live there. Solitary confinement, the lack of personal autonomy, and the ever-present risk of physical violence are just a few examples of that. However, one could argue that working is one of the least-destructive parts of prison life - it lets inmates remain productive and keep their minds off of their situation.

When you think of prison jobs, you probably think of laundry duty, kitchen detail, or even janitorial work. Now, though, tech startup Vainu is turning that perception on its head by giving some prisoners a decidedly more modern role to play in the outside world's economy.

The company, as reported by The Verge, is partnering up with two prisons and Finland's Criminal Sanctions Agency to bring AI training jobs to a handful of inmates in Vurtu and Helsinki.

Inmates who are given these jobs will be teaching AIs to to better handle Finnish data by reading through various articles pulled from the web and label what they're about.

An example task, The Verge says, might be an inmate determining that an article is about Apple the tech company and not a fruit company with the word "apple" in its name. Though these distinctions are usually obvious to humans, AIs tend to struggle with them - at first, anyway.

Right now, this whole concept is still in its early stages, and it remains to be seen how viable it will be in the long run.

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So, if I were in prison and allowed to do AI programming, just what kind of mischief could I get into? The list is endless .... but at least we won't have to go far to catch the culprit .....
 
I disagree with this.

Giving prisoners specialists jobs / skills that a non-criminal who is available to perform, is 'giving the criminal a leg up' in my opinion.

Let them do the traditional jobs available to them, and stop coveting cheap (free) labour.

I remember a n'aer do well from my community some years ago, he was in-n-out for years. He got sent on free specialist holidays to 'help him integrate', given extra 'assistance to find work' - imagine my joy as I sweated 2nd Order differential equations as a broke-*** student, and he was waltzing around in his new car, all off the back of the help given to find work....

Crime pays...

EDIT: Also, same guy, I heard he recently broke a policeman's fingers. He was a living God on the inside.
 
So, if I were in prison and allowed to do AI programming, just what kind of mischief could I get into? The list is endless .... but at least we won't have to go far to catch the culprit .....

This kind of problem has been encountered and solved a long time ago. It's simply really, you give inmates a few questions you already know the answer to and if they get one wrong, they are no longer allowed to train AI. In addition, you give multiple inmates the same question once in awhile. The odd men are out. If they all answer differently they all are out. These random "tests" do reduce output a bit but they ensure the accuracy of the work.
 
I disagree with this.

Giving prisoners specialists jobs / skills that a non-criminal who is available to perform, is 'giving the criminal a leg up' in my opinion.

Let them do the traditional jobs available to them, and stop coveting cheap (free) labour.

I remember a n'aer do well from my community some years ago, he was in-n-out for years. He got sent on free specialist holidays to 'help him integrate', given extra 'assistance to find work' - imagine my joy as I sweated 2nd Order differential equations as a broke-*** student, and he was waltzing around in his new car, all off the back of the help given to find work....

Crime pays...

EDIT: Also, same guy, I heard he recently broke a policeman's fingers. He was a living God on the inside.

There will always be people who do things the easy way. That should not stop you for doing things the right way. Take pride in your accomplishments and the positive impact you leave on the world.
 
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