Reinforcing competence: AI companies are paying thousands of lawyers, consultants, and other professionals through startups like Mercor and Surge to write out in detail what counts as a job well done in every conceivable context. (Josh Dzieza and Hayden Field, The Verge)
Summary
- Mercor and Surge AI are raking in billions from AI labs' insatiable appetite for training data - Gen Z whiz kids turning a tidy profit in this wild AI hype cycle.
- The data game is cutthroat, with everyone and their mother launching a "human data startup" to cash in on the AI gold rush.
- AI may be struggling to generalize, but the data vendors are betting the entire economy will become one big reinforcement learning environment.
