Mercor, an AI startup valued at $10 billion that connects highly skilled domain experts (such as doctors, lawyers, and engineers) with leading AI laboratories and enterprises to train their artificial intelligence models, is hiring tens of thousands of white-collar contractors to train artificial intelligence.
According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, the company has hired over 30,000 contractors to work on projects for some of the largest AI companies in 2025 alone. Their clients include OpenAI and Anthropic.
Applicants who are paired with these AI companies told the WSJ that they “often stay on the same project for weeks, sometimes even months.”
Since the beginning of industrialization, job layoffs have left experienced professionals competing in overcrowded markets with full-time roles taking forever to secure not to mention freelancing, if they come at all.
Coupled with financial uncertainty, trade hurdles, and a cautious approach to AI, unemployment has been climbing, reaching its highest level in four years this past November. White-collar workers are now sending out hundreds of job applications, and for many, that includes gigs with Mercor. In this situation, AI-training work offers a way to earn money right away, using skills people already have.
As this new category of work takes shape, many of the people signing up are doing so out of necessity, not optimism. Some contractors told the Wall Street Journal they see the work as a means of escaping unemployment. “I joked with my friends I’m training AI to take my job someday,” said Katie Williams, a video editor working with Mercor. While the pay is steady, she said the idea still makes people uneasy, especially those who worry about how it could narrow future job options.
Peter Valdes-Dapena, a 61-year-old automotive journalist, expressed the same tension, saying, “I didn’t invent AI, and I’m not going to uninvent it. If I were to stop doing this, would that stop it? The answer is no.” For many workers, training AI feels less like a choice and more like accepting where the industry is headed.
Mercor seeks experts across fields—from astronomers and psychologists to filmmakers, creative writers, comedians, legal specialists, investment bankers, and venture capitalists. A dermatologist, according to WSJ, could earn up to $250 an hour helping a healthcare partner develop “decision-support tools,” while poets who “enhance AI’s understanding of poetic structure, literary nuance, and emotional expression” can make as much as $150 an hour.
What this means for job platforms
A spokesperson for Mercor said in a statement that, “Many of the people we work with already see AI as inevitable in their field, but that doesn’t mean humans will run out of meaningful work.” For many of these experts, she added, there’s a sense of responsibility in shaping the models themselves, infusing them with real knowledge and judgment, so the outcomes are accurate and thoughtful.
That belief sits at the centre of what’s happening across job platforms right now. On one side, AI is making certain kinds of work easier and faster to do, which is why job platforms like Upwork and Fiverr are slowly turning into AI labour marketplaces, and it's only a matter of time before others follow the trend.
Damilare Odedina
