Mercor pays over $1.5 million a day to humans training AI, says its CEO

Brendan Foody, CEO and co-founder of Mercor, revealed that the company is investing more than $1.5 million each day to employ contractors who specialize in training artificial intelligence. Mercor, known for assembling teams of human experts to enhance AI models for prominent firms like OpenAI and Anthropic, recently secured funding that values the company at an impressive $10 billion. During an appearance on the TBPN show, Foody expressed excitement about the company's rapid growth, stating, "The company has been growing like crazy." Mercor is among several startups collaborating with major tech companies to refine their AI systems through human input. According to a LinkedIn update, Mercor currently boasts a workforce of over 30,000 contractors who are pivotal in this training process. Foody highlighted that significant investment is flowing in from various sectors, including software engineering, finance, law, and healthcare. In a recent blog post, he referred to the role of humans in AI training as a "new category of work," emphasizing the unique qualities humans bring to the table. He stated, "Millions of people will spend the next decade teaching machines the judgment, nuance, and taste that only humans possess. Instead of doing predictable work repeatedly, they'll teach agents how to do it once, so the agent can do it a million times." Additionally, Foody hinted at the possibility of an initial public offering (IPO) for Mercor in the future, although he did not provide a specific timeline. The burgeoning trend of utilizing human trainers for AI chatbots is reshaping the tech landscape, with workers reportedly earning up to $100 an hour for their expertise. From meme specialists helping xAI's chatbot Grok grasp internet culture to contractors instructing it in diverse subjects like Japanese and finance, the demand for human trainers is surging. Startups facilitating these connections between human trainers and AI labs are achieving skyrocketing valuations, creating a new wave of wealth among young entrepreneurs. Notably, Surge AI's CEO Edwin Chen, at age 37, has amassed a fortune of $18 billion. Meanwhile, Scale AI's co-founders, Alexandr Wang and Lucy Guo, aged 28 and 30 respectively, have fortunes of $3.2 billion and $1.4 billion, as reported by Forbes. A recent survey by Business Insider found that many data labelers are earning substantial incomes, although they describe the work as sometimes monotonous and chaotic.