The workforce training the next generation of artificial intelligence is not what you might expect. It’s an army of PhDs, seasoned writers, and teachers, all using their deep expertise to refine AI models. The shocking part? They are often paid wages comparable to fast-food workers, their intellectual capital systematically devalued by the tech giants who depend on it.
Contracting firms for major tech companies specifically target individuals with strong academic and professional backgrounds for roles as “super raters.” These workers are tasked with handling the most complex and nuanced training tasks, from correcting the AI’s creative writing to ensuring its scientific explanations are accurate. It’s a job that requires significant intellectual horsepower.
Yet, the compensation is starkly mismatched to the skill level. With wages for even these “super raters” hovering around $21 an hour and generalists earning as little as $16, many feel exploited. “They are people with expertise who are doing a lot of great writing work…being paid below what they’re worth to make an AI model that, in my opinion, the world doesn’t need,” one worker lamented about their colleagues.
This economic model is a cornerstone of the modern AI industry. It leverages a highly skilled labor pool, often from sectors with fewer job opportunities like the humanities, and extracts their valuable knowledge at a bargain price. It’s a system that concentrates wealth at the top while treating the intellectual labor that powers the entire enterprise as a cheap, replaceable commodity.
