What is a specialized participant group?
The specialized participant group is a select group of participants who have the chance to shape tomorrow’s AI. Being a part of this group means you’ve been recognized for your reliability and high-quality work which is rewarded with access to more AI tasks, which usually pay better than other studies.
For researchers, it’s reassuring to know their tasks are in good hands, and for you, it means more exciting and rewarding opportunities. Prolific hand-picks participants for this group based on things like approval rate, activity, feedback, and other indicators. Sometimes, there may be tests to make sure you have the right skills for these specialized tasks.
How will my experience change as a specialized participant?
Your day-to-day Prolific experience will not change. You’ll access studies as usual but you'll start seeing more AI tasks coming through on your dashboard. Below are a few pointers to help you identify these studies, which you'll only see if you're part of the specialized participant group:
- You’ll be able to access the Specialized Participant Terms from your account page
- You’ll also be able to spot these studies in your dashboard - just look for this on the study details page: 'Specialized Participant Terms apply when you take part in this study’.
- Lastly, once you've taken part in at least one study where the Specialized Participant Terms apply, you'll be able to spot this on your submission management page.
What does agreeing to these new terms mean?
Agreeing to these new terms means that you’ll have access to a broader range of AI research studies, many of which may be offered by organizations looking to collaborate with you over an extended period. These opportunities often come with the benefit of a higher hourly pay rate, making them potentially more rewarding than short-term projects.
The AI research studies you’ll participate in tend to follow a structured approach, where you’ll engage with various AI models and their responses. It will involve
- Evaluating the performance of these models
- Fact-checking the accuracy of their outputs
- Annotating content for clarity and relevance
- Providing valuable insights
- And many other tasks!
This ongoing collaboration not only contributes to the advancement of AI technologies but also allows you to have a deeper involvement in cutting-edge research.
FAQ's
What happens if I am not selected to join this specialized group?
If you aren't selected to join this participant group, nothing will change about your Prolific experience — you’ll still enjoy well-paid studies as normal. By registering your interest in joining, you agree to the Specialized Participant Terms.
How will I get selected for this participant group?
We will run participants through different verification methods to make sure participants meet the benchmark criteria to join this specialized group. Criteria may change as we test this new group with researchers. Taking part in a verification test is completely voluntary. The outcome of these tests will not affect your account.
How will I know if I’ve joined a participant group?
If you have joined, you may start to receive specialized studies in your dashboard. These studies are completely voluntary, and will be clearly labeled as part of the Specialized Participant Terms.
Is the minimum payment different for the studies I take as part of this participant group?
The minimum payment for studies in the specialized group are the same as regular studies. However, researchers running more complex AI tasks and in-depth studies generally pay much higher rewards. We are exploring enforcing increased rewards of these types of studies as we roll-out this feature.
What if I haven’t received this, but want to join the specialized participant group?
We aren’t able to put all participants through verifications at the moment, so we are selecting a handful of users to try. We hope to roll this out more widely.
What happens if I change my mind and don't want to take these studies anymore?
If for any reason you are not interested in these type of studies anymore, you can safely ignore them on your dashboard.