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What AI Trainers Do

Of 3,937 open AI training roles with a full description on 18 Oct 2026 (90.2% of open roles, at the expert networks that publish descriptions), 44.7% mention writing prompts, ideal answers or evaluation tasks, 41.3% rating, scoring or ranking model answers, 18.8% recording or transcribing audio and video, 9.9% writing or reviewing code and 2.4% red-teaming.

Data window
21 Sep 2026 to 18 Oct 2026
28 days, UTC
Computed
19 Oct 2026, 23:26 UTC
Recomputed every day
Source
The public job boards of the AI training platforms this site tracks, read every day. Full descriptions are read for the roles whose feed publishes them.
Method
Version 1. Definitions
CC BY 4.0, how to cite

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Key findings

  1. 1

    Rating or scoring responses against guidelines is the task mentioned most often, in 40.5% of the 3,937 roles read, ahead of annotating, labelling or tagging data (36.7%).

    Figure 1
  2. 2

    44.7% of roles read mention writing prompts, ideal answers or evaluation tasks, and 41.3% rating, scoring or ranking model answers; 21.7% mention both.

    Figure 1
  3. 3

    The median role read mentions 3 different tasks; 54.8% mention three or more, and 5.3% name none.

    Figure 5
  4. 4

    The highest share in any kind of work is reviewing for safety or policy in Red-Teaming & AI Safety: 88.9% of its roles read mention it, against 5.6% of all roles read.

    Figure 2
  5. 5

    Among tasks with at least 8 priced roles on 2 or more platforms, roles mentioning taking part in surveys or studies advertise the highest median ($100/hr) and roles mentioning transcribing audio or video the lowest ($23/hr), against $65/hr for all roles read.

    Figure 3
  6. 6

    The platforms differ most on annotating, labelling or tagging data: 100.0% of Sigma AI's roles read mention it, against 0.0% at Anyone AI.

    Figure 4
  7. 7

    Beyond judging and authoring, 18.8% of roles read mention recording or transcribing audio and video, 9.9% writing or reviewing code, and 2.4% red-teaming or adversarial testing.

    Figure 1

Figure 1

Tasks AI training roles describe

What do AI training roles ask people to do?

TaskRoles mentioning itShare of roles read
Rate or score responses against guidelines1,596
40.5%
Annotate, label or tag data1,446
36.7%
Create evaluation tasks, benchmarks or test cases1,070
27.2%
Fact-check or verify accuracy917
23.3%
Write prompts or questions832
21.1%
Translate or localise684
17.4%
Give feedback on reasoning or explanations599
15.2%
Record audio, video or photos538
13.7%
Write ideal responses or demonstrations493
12.5%
Solve problems step by step473
12.0%
Hold conversations or sessions414
10.5%
Take part in surveys or studies403
10.2%
Compare or rank model responses385
9.8%
Edit or rewrite text383
9.7%
Transcribe audio or video312
7.9%
Review or debug code289
7.3%
Write code or tests262
6.7%
Write rationales for judgments256
6.5%
Review agent trajectories or tool use230
5.8%
Write rubrics, criteria or guidelines223
5.7%
Review for safety or policy221
5.6%
Review others' work (QA)152
3.9%
Do hands-on professional work (models, analyses, simulations)96
2.4%
Red-team, jailbreak or adversarial testing93
2.4%
Perform physical tasks for robot data17
0.4%

Sample. 3,937 roles open on 18 Oct 2026 whose job board publishes a full description (AfterQuery, Anyone AI, Appen, Babel Audio, Braintrust, Claru, Handshake AI, Innodata, Invisible, Lifted (Upwork), Mercor, micro1, Mindrift, OneForma, OpenTrain AI, Outlier (Scale AI), Pasiflora AI, Perle Labs, Pila8, Prolific, RemoExperts, Remotasks, Rise Data Labs, Scale AI Human Frontier Collective, Sigma AI, Sovrano AI, SuperAnnotate (SME), Terac, TransPerfect DataForce, Turing, Vetto, Volga Partners, Weekday, Welo Data and xAI (SpaceXAI)), 90.2% of the 4,364 open roles; the boards that publish descriptions are expert networks, so these roles lean towards expert work.

A role mentions a task when its description contains one of the task's documented patterns, anywhere in the text: a mention is not necessarily the main task, and a role often mentions several.

Hiring steps are not tasks: a description saying applications are read against a rubric, or that applying starts with an AI interview, does not count as writing rubrics or holding conversations.

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, What AI Trainers Do, live data.

Figure 2

Tasks by kind of work

Which tasks does each kind of AI training work involve?

TaskDomain Experts (1,347)Multilingual (1,095)Transcription & Audio (461)Coding (288)Math & STEM (222)
Rate or score responses against guidelines57%35%11%48%32%42%39%38%0%5%58%68%
Annotate, label or tag data27%47%48%32%17%68%36%21%10%11%50%42%
Create evaluation tasks, benchmarks or test cases46%7%7%37%48%23%34%35%2%8%36%26%
Fact-check or verify accuracy26%29%1%33%36%10%16%14%2%5%28%45%
Write prompts or questions25%21%1%32%37%15%15%21%0%5%44%48%
Translate or localise1%49%16%1%3%20%5%2%2%3%3%10%
Give feedback on reasoning or explanations25%7%0%25%33%6%12%10%0%5%19%26%
Record audio, video or photos2%16%50%5%0%14%2%40%86%26%0%0%
Write ideal responses or demonstrations22%5%0%22%14%5%10%6%0%3%39%23%
Solve problems step by step10%15%2%18%45%3%5%2%0%0%6%10%
Hold conversations or sessions5%16%12%12%31%1%5%2%0%8%8%0%
Take part in surveys or studies5%26%1%2%1%1%6%2%2%58%3%3%
Compare or rank model responses11%11%0%16%3%5%15%6%0%5%31%32%
Edit or rewrite text5%20%4%4%3%12%9%6%0%0%3%45%
Transcribe audio or video0%12%37%0%0%5%0%0%8%0%0%0%
Review or debug code2%1%0%71%3%2%9%19%0%5%6%0%
Write code or tests4%0%2%48%4%1%8%22%2%8%19%7%
Write rationales for judgments10%4%2%7%3%8%14%2%0%3%19%19%
Review agent trajectories or tool use8%2%3%7%4%6%12%27%14%3%11%10%
Write rubrics, criteria or guidelines11%0%7%5%4%4%4%8%0%0%6%10%
Review for safety or policy8%3%0%6%1%8%9%5%0%3%89%16%
Review others' work (QA)5%0%10%8%2%1%4%6%2%0%11%3%
Do hands-on professional work (models, analyses, simulations)6%0%0%1%2%2%1%5%0%0%0%0%
Red-team, jailbreak or adversarial testing4%0%0%1%1%1%4%5%0%0%78%0%
Perform physical tasks for robot data0%0%0%0%0%3%0%0%27%0%0%0%

Sample. 3,937 roles open on 18 Oct 2026 whose job board publishes a full description (AfterQuery, Anyone AI, Appen, Babel Audio, Braintrust, Claru, Handshake AI, Innodata, Invisible, Lifted (Upwork), Mercor, micro1, Mindrift, OneForma, OpenTrain AI, Outlier (Scale AI), Pasiflora AI, Perle Labs, Pila8, Prolific, RemoExperts, Remotasks, Rise Data Labs, Scale AI Human Frontier Collective, Sigma AI, Sovrano AI, SuperAnnotate (SME), Terac, TransPerfect DataForce, Turing, Vetto, Volga Partners, Weekday, Welo Data and xAI (SpaceXAI)), 90.2% of the 4,364 open roles; the boards that publish descriptions are expert networks, so these roles lean towards expert work. Kinds of work with at least 10 roles read; each cell is the share of that kind's roles read that mention the task (roles read in the column header).

A role mentions a task when its description contains one of the task's documented patterns, anywhere in the text: a mention is not necessarily the main task, and a role often mentions several.

Every kind of work with a role read is shown.

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, What AI Trainers Do, live data.

Figure 3

Advertised pay of roles mentioning each task

Which tasks come with the highest advertised pay?

TaskMedian per hourMiddle halfRoles stating pay
Take part in surveys or studies
$100
$80 to $100365
Review others' work (QA)
$80
$63 to $10091
Do hands-on professional work (models, analyses, simulations)
$75
$45 to $10079
Write rubrics, criteria or guidelines
$75
$39 to $96200
Create evaluation tasks, benchmarks or test cases
$70
$40 to $93872
Write ideal responses or demonstrations
$70
$40 to $95421
Perform physical tasks for robot data
$68
$9 to $10612
Hold conversations or sessions
$65
$65 to $65357
Fact-check or verify accuracy
$65
$36 to $65860
Red-team, jailbreak or adversarial testing
$65
$46 to $8059
Review or debug code
$65
$50 to $75242
Solve problems step by step
$65
$65 to $65425
Write code or tests
$65
$55 to $86192
Write prompts or questions
$65
$37 to $65765
Give feedback on reasoning or explanations
$60
$39 to $83573
Rate or score responses against guidelines
$60
$35 to $901,436
Write rationales for judgments
$59
$25 to $100196
Review for safety or policy
$54
$35 to $75185
Compare or rank model responses
$45
$25 to $70357
Review agent trajectories or tool use
$37
$20 to $64126
Annotate, label or tag data
$36
$25 to $601,073
Edit or rewrite text
$35
$24 to $40352
Record audio, video or photos
$30
$20 to $40284
Translate or localise
$30
$20 to $40491
Transcribe audio or video
$23
$12 to $28114

Sample. 3,937 roles open on 18 Oct 2026 whose job board publishes a full description (AfterQuery, Anyone AI, Appen, Babel Audio, Braintrust, Claru, Handshake AI, Innodata, Invisible, Lifted (Upwork), Mercor, micro1, Mindrift, OneForma, OpenTrain AI, Outlier (Scale AI), Pasiflora AI, Perle Labs, Pila8, Prolific, RemoExperts, Remotasks, Rise Data Labs, Scale AI Human Frontier Collective, Sigma AI, Sovrano AI, SuperAnnotate (SME), Terac, TransPerfect DataForce, Turing, Vetto, Volga Partners, Weekday, Welo Data and xAI (SpaceXAI)), 90.2% of the 4,364 open roles; the boards that publish descriptions are expert networks, so these roles lean towards expert work. 3,180 of the 3,937 roles read state an hourly rate (median $65/hr).

A role mentions a task when its description contains one of the task's documented patterns, anywhere in the text: a mention is not necessarily the main task, and a role often mentions several.

Pay is the hourly figure the posting advertises (the middle of a stated range). Medians need 8 roles stating a rate from at least 2 platforms; others are marked and listed after the ranked tasks. The middle half runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile; 1.00x is the median of all roles read.

A role mentioning several tasks counts in each, and tasks travel with kinds of work and seniority: a pay difference is an association, not the price of the task.

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, What AI Trainers Do, live data.

Figure 4

Tasks by platform

How do the platforms that publish descriptions differ in the work they describe?

TaskAfterQuery (216)Anyone AI (128)Appen (55)Babel Audio (43)Braintrust (78)Claru (42)Handshake AI (170)Innodata (31)Invisible (532)Lifted (Upwork) (40)Mercor (233)micro1 (243)Mindrift (298)OneForma (24)OpenTrain AI (42)Outlier (Scale AI) (5)Pasiflora AI (7)Perle Labs (67)Pila8 (3)Prolific (124)RemoExperts (36)Remotasks (3)Rise Data Labs (106)Scale AI Human Frontier Collective (9)Sigma AI (90)Sovrano AI (20)SuperAnnotate (SME) (378)Terac (26)TransPerfect DataForce (66)Turing (189)Vetto (20)Volga Partners (58)Weekday (305)Welo Data (235)xAI (SpaceXAI) (15)
Rate or score responses against guidelines57%20%0%0%46%14%94%16%32%40%27%39%1%13%45%20%57%0%0%25%61%67%94%56%0%20%91%27%3%42%25%62%53%31%0%
Annotate, label or tag data9%0%31%47%44%36%10%97%30%63%25%26%5%25%41%0%57%91%0%29%28%0%93%0%100%20%90%23%12%53%10%71%15%37%100%
Create evaluation tasks, benchmarks or test cases63%90%0%0%33%2%42%10%7%13%47%24%11%4%41%0%0%0%0%23%33%0%18%89%0%75%11%39%3%64%15%38%44%12%87%
Fact-check or verify accuracy2%2%0%0%31%5%2%7%63%8%4%11%0%0%2%0%0%0%0%20%3%67%13%0%0%5%83%15%2%25%5%45%17%7%0%
Write prompts or questions17%2%0%0%12%2%35%65%60%8%11%7%1%4%26%0%0%0%0%1%11%33%2%0%0%0%56%8%6%23%0%40%7%5%0%
Translate or localise1%1%2%0%33%0%0%0%28%3%4%5%0%29%10%0%0%70%0%21%0%33%3%0%92%0%31%0%9%19%5%16%3%55%33%
Give feedback on reasoning or explanations6%35%0%0%26%10%7%0%4%5%16%8%4%4%10%0%0%2%0%16%17%0%5%0%0%0%71%15%0%10%10%57%17%0%0%
Record audio, video or photos21%0%64%7%33%62%0%10%6%30%19%5%0%25%5%80%14%12%100%21%19%0%0%0%90%5%9%4%46%6%0%19%5%19%100%
Write ideal responses or demonstrations43%6%0%0%22%5%1%3%0%8%19%8%14%4%12%0%57%0%0%0%39%33%2%0%0%10%36%4%3%18%15%3%18%0%0%
Solve problems step by step3%0%0%0%1%5%1%0%60%13%5%5%0%0%7%0%0%2%0%7%3%0%1%22%0%5%4%15%0%21%10%29%7%1%0%
Hold conversations or sessions0%0%2%5%0%2%0%7%61%3%2%0%0%17%0%20%0%8%67%10%0%0%0%0%0%0%0%0%26%5%10%16%1%6%0%
Take part in surveys or studies0%0%0%0%0%0%0%0%0%3%3%0%81%4%0%0%0%0%0%100%0%0%0%0%0%5%1%62%3%0%0%3%1%0%0%
Compare or rank model responses3%2%0%0%21%7%7%3%0%3%5%3%0%0%5%0%57%0%0%27%17%67%0%0%0%10%56%4%0%17%5%2%7%3%0%
Edit or rewrite text1%0%6%0%30%2%1%65%14%5%0%13%1%4%7%0%0%0%0%22%0%0%1%0%0%0%37%0%3%8%10%16%3%5%0%
Transcribe audio or video1%0%27%47%3%7%1%0%0%35%6%8%0%8%19%0%0%91%0%0%0%0%0%0%99%0%0%0%5%1%0%12%2%13%87%
Review or debug code8%23%0%0%9%5%1%0%7%8%6%10%0%0%7%0%0%0%0%5%17%0%0%33%0%5%16%19%3%27%5%0%5%0%0%
Write code or tests8%22%0%0%6%7%2%0%1%25%5%11%1%0%12%0%0%8%0%9%11%0%3%100%2%30%7%19%0%25%10%0%7%1%0%
Write rationales for judgments2%0%0%0%1%12%8%10%0%18%15%12%4%4%7%0%43%0%0%8%11%0%0%0%0%10%5%0%3%15%30%28%11%9%0%
Review agent trajectories or tool use0%5%0%0%3%19%0%10%1%18%9%1%15%0%12%0%0%0%0%0%0%0%0%33%0%5%5%15%0%51%0%0%1%0%0%
Write rubrics, criteria or guidelines1%0%0%0%0%0%0%0%8%0%22%11%0%0%5%0%0%0%0%0%17%0%11%0%0%75%1%4%2%7%0%0%16%0%0%
Review for safety or policy1%0%0%0%1%10%5%13%1%0%12%3%0%4%10%0%57%0%0%1%0%0%0%33%0%15%28%0%3%9%10%10%3%2%0%
Review others' work (QA)5%13%0%0%4%2%0%3%0%0%8%2%0%0%0%0%0%69%0%2%17%0%0%0%0%10%4%4%0%7%0%0%3%1%0%
Do hands-on professional work (models, analyses, simulations)4%3%0%0%0%0%4%0%0%0%3%6%7%0%0%0%0%0%0%1%6%0%1%0%0%10%1%0%0%6%5%0%4%1%0%
Red-team, jailbreak or adversarial testing0%0%0%0%1%2%4%3%1%5%11%1%0%0%7%0%14%0%0%0%3%0%0%0%0%15%7%0%0%5%5%0%1%0%0%
Perform physical tasks for robot data0%0%2%0%0%0%0%3%0%3%0%0%0%0%0%0%0%2%0%0%17%0%0%0%0%0%0%0%3%0%0%2%0%1%0%

Sample. 3,937 roles open on 18 Oct 2026 whose job board publishes a full description (AfterQuery, Anyone AI, Appen, Babel Audio, Braintrust, Claru, Handshake AI, Innodata, Invisible, Lifted (Upwork), Mercor, micro1, Mindrift, OneForma, OpenTrain AI, Outlier (Scale AI), Pasiflora AI, Perle Labs, Pila8, Prolific, RemoExperts, Remotasks, Rise Data Labs, Scale AI Human Frontier Collective, Sigma AI, Sovrano AI, SuperAnnotate (SME), Terac, TransPerfect DataForce, Turing, Vetto, Volga Partners, Weekday, Welo Data and xAI (SpaceXAI)), 90.2% of the 4,364 open roles; the boards that publish descriptions are expert networks, so these roles lean towards expert work. Each cell is the share of the platform's open roles read that mention the task (roles read in the column header).

A role mentions a task when its description contains one of the task's documented patterns, anywhere in the text: a mention is not necessarily the main task, and a role often mentions several.

Listings only: a share of a platform's open roles, not of its hires or projects. Platforms write descriptions to their own template, so a task one platform's template always names counts in every one of its roles.

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, What AI Trainers Do, live data.

Figure 5

How many different tasks a role describes

Do AI training roles describe one task or a mix?

Distinct tasks mentionedRolesShare of roles read
No task named210
5.3%
1 task869
22.1%
2 tasks700
17.8%
3 tasks547
13.9%
4 tasks725
18.4%
5 tasks428
10.9%
6 or more tasks458
11.6%

Sample. 3,937 roles open on 18 Oct 2026 whose job board publishes a full description (AfterQuery, Anyone AI, Appen, Babel Audio, Braintrust, Claru, Handshake AI, Innodata, Invisible, Lifted (Upwork), Mercor, micro1, Mindrift, OneForma, OpenTrain AI, Outlier (Scale AI), Pasiflora AI, Perle Labs, Pila8, Prolific, RemoExperts, Remotasks, Rise Data Labs, Scale AI Human Frontier Collective, Sigma AI, Sovrano AI, SuperAnnotate (SME), Terac, TransPerfect DataForce, Turing, Vetto, Volga Partners, Weekday, Welo Data and xAI (SpaceXAI)), 90.2% of the 4,364 open roles; the boards that publish descriptions are expert networks, so these roles lean towards expert work.

A role mentions a task when its description contains one of the task's documented patterns, anywhere in the text: a mention is not necessarily the main task, and a role often mentions several.

Out of the 25 tasks in the taxonomy. A role naming none describes its work in words no pattern reads (a project overview, a list of requirements only).

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, What AI Trainers Do, live data.

For labs, data vendors and researchers

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  • 10,373 roles tracked, each with its history

    Every role on 36 job boards, read daily since 13 Jul 2026: its pay and place, and the first and last day it was open.

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Method and definitions

The public job boards of the AI training platforms this site tracks, read every day. Full descriptions are read for the roles whose feed publishes them. Every figure is computed by one database query over the window shown, the same query for the live report and for every edition. Each figure states its sample beneath it.

Mention
A description mentions a task when it contains one of the task's documented patterns (whole words, case-insensitive, never across two lines), anywhere in the text: the duties, the requirements or a note on the project. A mention is not necessarily the main task, and a role often mentions several.
Task
One of 25 activities a description can name, from writing prompts, ideal answers, rubrics and evaluation tasks, through rating, ranking, fact-checking and red-teaming model output, to coding, annotating, transcribing, translating, recording and physical tasks for robot data. Each has a published pattern, tested on real sentences.
Not a task
Hiring steps and company boilerplate are kept out: an application read against a rubric, an AI interview, 'no screen recording' or 'professionals, not annotators' do not count as writing rubrics, holding conversations, recording or annotating.
Pay by task
The median hourly rate advertised by the roles mentioning a task. A median needs 8 roles stating a rate, and is ranked only when they come from at least 2 platforms; a median resting on one platform is shown, marked, and not ranked.
Coverage
Only roles whose job board publishes a full description are read (Mercor, micro1, AfterQuery and Braintrust, about three in ten open roles); each figure states how many that is.
Open role
A role listed by a given day and still in its platform's feed that day.
Kind of work
Each role is classified from its title and description into one of the twelve kinds of AI training work this site tracks, from AI evaluation and coding to multilingual and audio work. Every kind links to its own page.
Window
Live: the last 28 complete days, in UTC. Edition: one calendar month, in UTC.

What this data cannot tell you

  • Platforms that recruit without a public job board are not counted. Several large ones invite workers to projects directly.
  • A listing is not a hire. Some platforms keep evergreen roles open for months, and some post one listing per language or country.
  • Descriptions are published by about three in ten open roles, all at expert networks: the figures describe those roles, lean towards expert and senior work, and say little about microtask crowds and the platforms that publish titles only.
  • A mention is not the main task, and a requirement counts like a duty ('experience in translation' mentions translating). Platforms write to their own templates, so a task one template always names counts in every one of its roles.
  • A pattern can miss a task phrased in an unusual way; nothing is inferred beyond what the text says. A pay difference between tasks is an association: tasks travel with kinds of work and seniority.

How the job feeds are read and roles are classified: site methodology. How fresh, complete and consistent the data is, checked every day: data quality and coverage.

Editions

The live report covers the last 28 complete days and changes every day. Each complete month is also published as an edition, frozen two days after the month ends, so a figure you cite from an edition never moves.

  • Live data (this page)Last 28 complete days, recomputed daily

Cite and reuse

Free to quote, chart and republish under CC BY 4.0 with a link to this page. Live figures change daily: cite a monthly edition for numbers that will read the same later, or keep the access date.

Citation

AITraining.jobs (2026). What AI Trainers Do (live data, 21 Sep 2026 to 18 Oct 2026). https://aitraining.run/research/what-ai-trainers-do (accessed 19 Oct 2026)

BibTeX

@misc{aitrainingjobs_what_ai_trainers_do_live,
  author = {{AITraining.jobs}},
  title = {What AI Trainers Do (live data, 21 Sep 2026 to 18 Oct 2026)},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://aitraining.run/research/what-ai-trainers-do}},
  note = {Accessed 19 Oct 2026},
}
Data: every figure as CSV (one line per value) and JSON, sent to your work email.Pay and open-roles data

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