Link: A profile of Mercor, which pays about $2M daily to ~30K experts training AI models at $95/hour on average, with roles like radiologists earning up to $375/hour (Bethan Staton/Financial Times)

Lola initially doubted the authenticity of job ads promising $90 per hour for remote work, ranging from consultancy to philosophy. After joining Mercor, a Silicon Valley start-up, she realized the jobs were real, but involved training AI to perform tasks typically done by humans.

Mercor, established by three school friends in 2023, runs teams training AIs to potentially replace their own roles.

They are part of a growing subsector involving companies like Scale AI and Turing, targeting AI advancement in various fields.

The role of AI trainers has evolved from low-paid data labelers to highly skilled contractors shaping AI capabilities in complex fields.

Brendan Foody, Mercor's CEO, sees this shift as creating a new work category, suggesting AI will eventually assist professionals by automating mundane tasks.

However, concerns about AI leading to significant job displacement are mounting, with warnings from figures like London's mayor and the director of the University of Virginia’s Economics of Transformative AI initiative.

These concerns focus on AI's potential to outperform humans in knowledge work, possibly disrupting the labor market severely.

Mercor pays about $2 million daily to 30,000 experts involved in AI training, with high-paying temporary gigs that could ultimately lead to permanent job losses.

Strategies like stakeholding in AI-generated revenue have been proposed to ensure trainers benefit from their contributions.

Foody emphasizes that although job displacement is inevitable, new job categories will emerge, requiring more humans to train AI.

This transition aims to enhance productivity, allowing humans to focus on higher-level tasks facilitated by AI. #

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Yoooo, this is a quick note on a link that made me go, WTF? Find all past links here.