Lora KelleyJul 14, 2026 – 11.15amEvery day, Mercor, a start-up that sells training data to artificial intelligence companies, pays 30,000 contractors more than $US4 million ($5.8 million) to help make their jobs, and those of their colleagues, obsolete.It’s gig work, but for professionals with rarefied skills. One recent Mercor posting offered $US225 an hour for a voice actor able to maintain a customer service persona in fluent Hebrew. Another sought a PhD physicist with a specialisation in general relativity, astrophysics or cosmology. A third listing wanted a physician with more than three years of experience in the Rwandan primary care medical system.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles
Why lawyers, bankers and scientists are helping AI destroy their jobs
Start-ups are paying white-collar professionals to teach their jobs to artificial intelligence models. It’s a bonanza. It’s bleak. Where will it end?
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