AI Development and Effect Network

Rochelle Trevarrow
Effect Network
Published in
9 min readApr 13, 2023

How to use humans and microtasks to curate datasets for AI development

What is Effect Network?

Effect Network is a decentralized microtasking platform that allows users to curate datasets for AI development. The platform is powered by the Ethereum blockchain and utilizes smart contracts to create a trustless environment. Effect Network is designed to be used by developers, data scientists, and businesses who need high-quality training data for their AI models.

The idea behind Effect Network is to provide a platform where anyone can annotate datasets that can be used to train machine learning models. The platform makes use of smart contracts to ensure that all parties involved are treated fairly and transparently. The Effect Network team is composed of experienced professionals with a track record of building successful companies and bringing innovative products to market. Co-founders Jesse Eisses and Laurens Verspeek are in charge of the team.

Effect Network offers a number of advantages over traditional microtasking platforms. First, the decentralized nature of the platform means that there is no central authority controlling the data or setting prices. Second, the use of smart contracts ensures that all transactions are secure and transparent. Finally, the platform is designed specifically for AI development, which means that it enables developers to curate high-quality training data.

If you’re looking for a marketplace where you can create or optimize datasets for AI development, then Effect Network is definitely the place to be.

How can microtasks help with AI development?

Microtasks can play an important role in AI development, providing data that can be used to train and test algorithms. Crowdsourced microtasks help gather large amounts of data quickly and efficiently. Effect Network offers a fair and transparent way to connect workers with tasks and also allows for flexible pricing.

Using humans to curate datasets can help ensure that the data is of high quality and representative of the real world. This is especially important for developing systems that will be used in critical applications such as AI chats or even self-driving cars. Microtasks are useful for developing AI because they help make algorithms that work better and more reliably.

What are the benefits of using a decentralized platform?

There are many benefits to building AI on a decentralized network. Because AI technology is always evolving and improving, having a centralized hub where individuals from all around the world can collaborate on its development is essential. Second, since no one entity is responsible for maintaining the platform’s integrity, it is safer, which guarantees that hackers or other malicious actors won’t be able to exploit a single point of vulnerability. Third, everyone has access to the data on a decentralized network, making it more trustworthy. That facilitates everyone’s ability to inspect the code and ensure its proper functioning.

Last but not least, a decentralized platform saves time and money by cutting out the middleman. That means business deals can be made more quickly and at a lower cost. It’s easy to see why a decentralized platform would be ideal for AI research and development.

How does the Effect Network work?

Effect Network is a decentralized microtasking platform that lets users collect data for AI development. No matter their experience or expertise, anyone can use the platform.

Users can create and complete microtasks on the platform in order to earn rewards. The microtasks on the platform will be used to curate datasets for AI development.

Users can contribute to the development of artificial intelligence through the Effect Network platform, even if they don’t have any experience or knowledge in this area. By completing microtasks on the platform, users can help train and improve AI algorithms. In return for their contributions, users earn rewards in the form of tokens.

The Effect Network token (EFX) is an ERC20-compliant token that is used as a means of exchange on the platform. EFX tokens can be earned by completing microtasks or purchased from exchanges.

Who can use Effect Network?

Organizations or individuals who need to curate datasets for AI development can use Effect Network. Effect Network is open to anyone who wants to contribute their time and skills to help with AI development. You do not need any special qualifications to use the Effect Network.

Being a decentralized platform, it enables organizations and individuals to crowdsource the curation of datasets for training machine learning models. The network comprises a worldwide community of individuals who contribute their time and skills to label data points, thereby increasing the accuracy of AI models.

Organizations or individuals who wish to use the platform can post tasks on the network, which are then completed by workers on Effect Force, based on their skills and availability. Once a task is completed, the organization or individual can review the results and approve them. The worker receives compensation in the form of tokens, which can be exchanged for fiat, used to govern the network, or participate in various DeFi projects.

You do not need any special qualifications to use the Effect Network. All you need is an internet connection and a willingness to contribute your time and skills to help with AI development. By joining the network, you can make a difference in the world of artificial intelligence and earn rewards for your efforts.

Why is curating datasets important for AI development?

Curating datasets is an essential part of AI development. As the demand for AI services continues to grow, so does the need for high-quality datasets. Datasets are a critical component of AI development because they provide the training data that is used to train and test machine learning models.

Only when high-quality datasets drive AI algorithms can businesses gain valuable information and insight that can help them make critical decisions that could improve customer experience, brand loyalty, supply chain flow, and more. At its core, an accurate dataset provides a representative sample of the population.

As AI transitions from research to deployment, creating the appropriate datasets and data pipelines to develop and evaluate AI models is increasingly the biggest challenge. Automated AI model builders that are publicly available can now achieve top performance in many applications. In contrast, the design and sculpting of the data used to develop AI often rely on bespoke manual work, and they critically affect the trustworthiness of the model.

In contrast to the increasing ease of model building, creating datasets for AI remains a major pain point due to the cost of curation and annotation. Surveys report that 96% of enterprises encounter data challenges, including data quality and labeling in AI projects, and 40% of them lack confidence in ensuring data quality. Data scientists spend nearly twice as much time on data loading, cleansing, and visualization as they do on model training, selection, and deployment.

The process of curating datasets for machine learning starts well before availing datasets. Data curators collect data from multiple sources, integrate it into one form, authenticate it, manage it, archive it, preserve it, retrieve it, and represent it. It is important to identify the goal of AI, what dataset you will need to solve the problem, make a record of your assumptions while selecting the data, and aim for collecting diverse and meaningful data from both external and internal resources.

Most importantly, curating datasets is critical for AI development because it provides high-quality training data that is used to train and test machine learning models. It helps businesses gain valuable information and insight that can help them make critical decisions. The process of curating datasets for machine learning starts well before availing datasets and involves collecting data from multiple sources, integrating it into one form, authenticating it, and managing it.

How do workers curate datasets on Effect Network?

Workers on Effect Network’s microtasking platform, called Effect Force, choose from a variety of microtasks that suit their skills and qualifications. These tasks can include image tagging, audio transcription, data collection, and more. Workers submit their work to the blockchain and receive EFX tokens as payment. The tasks are created by requesters, who upload their datasets to the platform and pay EFX in escrow. The platform uses a Merkle tree to efficiently represent tasks and verify submissions.

To interact with Effect Force, workers need an Effect account, which is a virtual balance that tracks their EFX tokens on the EOS blockchain. Workers can control their Effect account in two ways:

  • Use an EOS account: This option does not require a relayer to make transactions, but it requires an EOS account. Workers use an EOS wallet, such as Anchor, to sign transactions with their EOS account.
  • Use a BSC account: This option does not require an EOS account, but it requires a relayer to process transactions. Workers can use any wallet that supports ECDSA signatures, such as MetaMask or TrustWallet, to sign transactions with their public key address.

Workers on the platform can also connect their Effect account to their Binance Smart Chain (BSC) address through the Effect Bridge, which allows them to swap their EFX tokens between the two chains.

Effect Force is a revolutionary platform that lets workers earn EFX tokens by doing microtasks on the Effect Network. Effect Force makes sure that workers have full control over their accounts, funds, and data by using blockchain technology. Effect Force also offers various benefits such as quality control, a reputation system, skill assessment, and opportunities to govern how it runs. With it being decentralized, anyone on the platform can join in on the governance over the network by way of the EffectDAO to make changes and decide how the platform is run. Effect Force is the future of work for the decentralized economy.

What kind of microtasks can be created on Effect Network?

There are many types of microtasks that can be created to curate datasets for AI development! There is even a selection of pre-built templates for the most popular types of tasks. Some examples include:

  • Image annotation: workers add labels or tags to images to help train machine learning models. For example, you might ask workers to label images as “dog” or “cat.”
  • Text annotation: workers add labels or tags to text data, such as identifying named entities or sentiment analysis.
  • Audio transcription: Expertly qualified workers transcribe audio data into text format.
  • Video annotation: workers label or tag video data, such as identifying objects or people.
  • Data categorization: workers categorize data into different groups based on certain criteria.
  • Sentiment analysis: workers analyze text data to determine the sentiment behind it (e.g., positive, negative, neutral).
  • Prompt engineering: workers identify and extract useful information from prompts that can be used to generate text. It’s used to embed the description of the task that the AI is supposed to accomplish in the input.

Who can create microtasks on Effect Network?

One question that many people have about Effect Force is: who creates these microtasks? Is it only available for businesses or organizations, or can individuals also take advantage of this opportunity?

The answer is simple: Anyone can create microtasks on Effect Force! This means that both companies and individual users have equal access to creating tasks on the platform.

By creating microtasks, a user can use human intelligence to reach specific goals and outsource labor needs on a large scale without hiring full-time workers. With the help of platforms like Effect Force and their worker pools, it’s possible to run large-scale data collection campaigns in minutes or even seconds. Imagine getting thousands or millions of unique data points all at once!

Setting up your first task couldn’t be easier! Users simply choose what kind of task they want to be completed (data entry, image labeling, etc.), upload any required files/guidelines required for completion, and then select the compensation amount in EFX for each task that’s paid to a worker, which will typically net out between 1 and 10 cents USD equivalent depending upon the complexity and volume requirements specified. Once the tasks are published, workers immediately start completing them in tandem until they are all done.

Also, there are no limits on how much or how often someone wants to publish tasks system-wide, so feel free to test the waters whenever you need to for things like machine learning algorithms, training datasets, and building AI-related dApps. This flexibility makes it easy for both novice users just starting out with crowdsourcing solutions and experienced business owners looking to streamline operations using modern blockchain technology stacks.

Lastly, because we strongly believe in making wealth creation more democratic through decentralization, every EFX put into the escrow contract is distributed via the blockchain automatically to workers who finish a task successfully. This means that one’s contribution to the platform not only enables them to earn from freelance or out-of-office jobs, but also helps to ensure a fair distribution of wealth across all users who leverage Effect Force for completing microtasks!

Get started on Effect Network

Do you want to be part of a community that is shaping the future of artificial intelligence? Do you want to earn rewards for your contributions or create your own microtasks for others to complete? If yes, then go to Effect Network and start building or earning today!

On our Discord server, you can chat with other users, get support from our team, share your ideas and feedback, and learn more about AI development. You can also participate in the governance of the network, as well as events that we host regularly. Don’t miss this opportunity to join a vibrant and growing community of AI enthusiasts!

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