Mercor CEO Brendan Foody claimed that the company’s daily payouts had grown from nothing to more than $6 million in two years, highlighting the business of paying people to train AI.
His Oct. 5 post pointed to a 60 Minutes report on AI and work. CBS’s transcript describes how AI companies hire Mercor to improve models in particular fields, drawing on a pool of more than 100,000 freelancers available to contribute their expertise.
The report’s examples make that work concrete. A physician described training AI to interpret laboratory results; a music producer described comparing two versions of a lyric and giving feedback. The three specialists CBS profiled had full-time jobs and trained AI on the side.
The report also examined how dependable the work is. CBS spoke with more than a dozen past and current trainers; some were happy, while many said assignments came unpredictably or not at all. Foody acknowledged erratic hours and described the work as generally part time, while saying Mercor keeps work available for high-performing experts.
Economist Daron Acemoglu challenged the idea that these training jobs could compensate for broader automation. He argued that the number employed in these positions was small relative to the number he expected automation to replace.
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