Is the dog walker an employee here? That makes a big difference. As does whether writing reports is a normal part of their job. If both of those things are true, asking them to spend a day researching some stuff and writing a report doesn't sound crazy.

Just google it and copy paste whatever is in the first result + the wikipedia article and turn it in, easy peasy.

You are totally in your rights to fire your dog walker if they refuse to write you an essay about Russian political history.

You're also totally in your rights to ask your bank teller to write you an essay about Russian political history and switch banks if they refuse. Being within your rights doesn't mean you're not acting totally insane.

Maybe? But it doesn't make you less of an ass.

I’m not disputing that though. That doesn’t mean the average person would consider it reasonable

Why not? Suppose you have to choose between two dog walkers for hire, one who is will to write essays about Russian history and one who is not. You happen to be very interested in Russian history. Why wouldn't you prefer the dog walker who is willing to write about it?

I never said "asking". I meant a small report. And this, only a single time. Absolutely no problem in my book.

Are you really comparing a "dog walker" to somebody who creates IP (nothing against dog walkers).

> Are you really comparing a "dog walker" to somebody who creates IP

Yes. Why wouldn’t I? These are examples of people who were hired from completely different fields than what is requested of them in the scenario. Why would an AI researcher be a better Russian political history analyst than a dog walker? Neither is a polsci major.

If anyone asked me something so ridiculous at my job they would get a copy and paste from wikipedia.