Based on the idea of Amazons Mechanical Turk (MTurk) the Gems team is working on a decentralized version of the Amazon Mturk, called Gems.
In this blog I will explain what Amazon Mechanical Turk is, what its strengths are and what problems exist with Amazon Turk (and similar platforms) that Gems will try to solve.

What is Amazon Mechanical Turk?

According to Amazon:
When we think of interfaces between human beings and computers, we usually assume that the human being is the one requesting that a task be completed, and the computer is completing the task and providing the results. What if this process was reversed and a computer program could ask a human being to perform a task and return the results? What if it could coordinate many human beings to perform a task?
Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) provides a service for service requesters (hereafter “Requesters”) to integrate Artificial Artificial Intelligence directly into their applications by making requests of humans. Requesters can use the MTurk web user interface or web services API to submit tasks to the MTurk web site, approve completed tasks, and incorporate the answers into their applications. When using the web services API, the transaction looks very much like any remote procedure call – the application sends the request, and the service returns the results. In reality, a network of human Workers (hereafter “Workers”) fuels this Artificial Artificial Intelligence by coming to the web site, searching for and completing tasks, and receiving reward for their work.

What problems does MTurk solve?

For software developers, the Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) web service solves the problem of building applications that until now have not worked well without human intelligence. Humans are much more effective at solving some types of problems, like finding specific objects in pictures, evaluating beauty, or translating text. The idea of the MTurk web service is to give developers a programmable interface to a network of humans to solve these kinds of problems and incorporate this human intelligence into their applications.

For businesses and entrepreneurs who want tasks completed, the MTurk service solves the problem of accessing a vast network of human intelligence with the efficiencies and cost-effectiveness of computers. Oftentimes people do not move forward with certain projects because the cost to establish a network of skilled Workers to do the work outweighs the value of completing it. By turning the fixed costs into variable costs that scale with their needs, the MTurk web service eliminates this barrier and allows projects to be completed that before were not economical.

For people who want to earn money in their spare time, the MTurk web site solves the problem of finding work you can do wherever and whenever you want using the skills you already possess

What are the problems with MTurk?

The Gems team points out that the current centralized marketplaces like MTurk have multiple problems:

-Incredibly high fees:
As stated in their whitepaper “ Unfortunately, the current centralized marketplaces are wrought with problems. Amazon charges requesters a minimum 20% fee on any amount paid out to workers and an additional 5% for requesting workers that have a good track record. Furthermore, tasks with 10 or more assignments are charged an additional 20% fee, totaling upwards of 40% in total fees. With over half of MTurkers reportedly earning less than $5 an hour, MTurk has been described as the sweatshop of online crowdsourced labor. To use Crowdflower, on the most basic plan requesters must pay a $3000 USD onboarding fee and $1500/month continuation fee with an annual contract[. This does not include payment to workers, which is paid separately. Furthermore, there is an additional 15% fee on any payments given to workers.”

-Difficulty verifying tasks:
Manually verifying the accuracy of results from workers is difficult. To ensure quality results, requesters currently rely on redundancy, oftentimes having 5-15 workers perform the same task to form a consensus. This is undoubtedly wasteful. Requesters pay 5-15x as much per project, and workers lose out on a potential increase in payment.

-Limited supply in needed interfaces:
Non-managed platforms do not supply interfaces needed to accomplish specific tasks. Currently, requesters will either build their own tools[12] or pay large fees to startups looking to tackle the enterprise market[13], wasting millions of dollars.

-Restricted access:
Micro task workers also have issues with the system. The entirety of the labor pool does not have access to current micro task marketplaces. A staggering 38% of the world’s population does not have a bank account, hurting their ability to work in and contribute in current 4 systems. Furthermore, for those that do have bank accounts, problems with payments, lost checks, etc. come into play. This does not even include the fees and cut that central institutions take away from the marketplace.

-Signup is privacy invasive:
Lastly, the signup and approval process for workers is nebulous and privacy invasive, leaving many wondering if they will even be able to contribute to this marketplace. The unofficial subreddit for workers on MTurk is riddled with users asking when they will be approved and many others offering condolences saying it may take months if ever.

How will the Gems team solve these problems?

To solve these problems the Gems team introduces “a decentralized, open-sourced, human task crowdsourcing protocol built on top of the Ethereum blockchain. Using the Gems Protocol, anyone can tap into the power of scalable micro task workers without needing to worry about task verification, trust, or payments. Gems is designed to disincentivize malicious actors and reward fair players. The Gems Protocol is comprised of a staking mechanism to ensure task completion, a trust mechanism to track worker integrity, and a payment system to reduce transaction fees. The GEM token, a multi-utility token, fuels the Gems Protocol. Gems uses its token mechanism to enforce the behavior of all participants, instead of being regulated by a single operator.”

They further introduce ” the first application using the Gems Protocol, aptly named the Gems Platform. The Gems Platform connects those who want work done (henceforth known as “requesters”) and human workers (henceforth known as “miners”). By using the Gems Protocol, the Gems Platform removes socioeconomic barriers that exist in centralized alternatives (e.g. large fees, market inefficiencies, need for bank accountants, etc.). Anyone can build on top of the Gems Platform, creating “modules” that are interfaces for particular human tasks. The first module the Gems team will build focuses on labeling data for AI.”

Follow the gems project on Gems.org, read their blog on https://blog.gems.org/ and join the telegram https://t.me/gemsorg .

Sources:
Amazon: https://requester.mturk.com/help/faq#can_requesters_outside_us_use_mturk
Gems: https://gems.org/whitepaper.pdf