Skip to content

Research report ยท Live data

What AI Trainers Do

Of 3,260 open AI training roles with a full description on 17 Oct 2026 (88.9% of open roles, at the expert networks that publish descriptions), 46.2% mention writing prompts, ideal answers or evaluation tasks, 38.5% rating, scoring or ranking model answers, 19.9% recording or transcribing audio and video, 9.9% writing or reviewing code and 2.9% red-teaming.

Data window
20 Sep 2026 to 17 Oct 2026
28 days, UTC
Computed
18 Oct 2026, 16:26 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

Every figure on this page as CSV and JSON, sent to your work email.

Key findings

  1. 1

    Rating or scoring responses against guidelines is the task mentioned most often, in 38.3% of the 3,260 roles read, ahead of annotating, labelling or tagging data (36.1%).

    Figure 1
  2. 2

    46.2% of roles read mention writing prompts, ideal answers or evaluation tasks, and 38.5% rating, scoring or ranking model answers; 21.8% mention both.

    Figure 1
  3. 3

    The median role read mentions 3 different tasks; 55.4% mention three or more, and 5.0% 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 6.3% 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 ($25/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, 19.9% of roles read mention recording or transcribing audio and video, 9.9% writing or reviewing code, and 2.9% 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 guidelines1,248
38.3%
Annotate, label or tag data1,177
36.1%
Create evaluation tasks, benchmarks or test cases853
26.2%
Fact-check or verify accuracy793
24.3%
Write prompts or questions761
23.3%
Translate or localise636
19.5%
Give feedback on reasoning or explanations476
14.6%
Record audio, video or photos474
14.5%
Write ideal responses or demonstrations429
13.2%
Solve problems step by step415
12.7%
Hold conversations or sessions388
11.9%
Compare or rank model responses326
10.0%
Edit or rewrite text315
9.7%
Transcribe audio or video284
8.7%
Take part in surveys or studies270
8.3%
Review or debug code263
8.1%
Review agent trajectories or tool use216
6.6%
Review for safety or policy207
6.3%
Write code or tests207
6.3%
Write rationales for judgments184
5.6%
Write rubrics, criteria or guidelines163
5.0%
Review others' work (QA)140
4.3%
Red-team, jailbreak or adversarial testing96
2.9%
Do hands-on professional work (models, analyses, simulations)81
2.5%
Perform physical tasks for robot data15
0.5%

Sample. 3,260 roles open on 17 Oct 2026 whose job board publishes a full description (AfterQuery, Anyone AI, Appen, Babel Audio, Braintrust, Claru, Handshake AI, Invisible, Mercor, micro1, Mindrift, OneForma, OpenTrain AI, Outlier (Scale AI), Pasiflora AI, Perle Labs, Pila8, RemoExperts, Remotasks, Sigma AI, Sovrano AI, SuperAnnotate (SME), Terac, TransPerfect DataForce, Turing, Vetto, Welo Data and xAI (SpaceXAI)), 88.9% of the 3,668 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 (992)Multilingual (967)Transcription & Audio (408)Coding (239)Math & STEM (200)
Rate or score responses against guidelines54%34%10%48%27%47%42%32%0%67%0%67%
Annotate, label or tag data26%45%48%29%12%47%64%19%10%58%6%48%
Create evaluation tasks, benchmarks or test cases46%7%7%34%51%30%24%34%2%36%6%26%
Fact-check or verify accuracy24%31%1%38%38%27%9%14%2%28%3%48%
Write prompts or questions29%23%1%36%39%28%8%24%0%36%0%56%
Translate or localise1%52%17%2%3%7%25%3%2%3%0%11%
Give feedback on reasoning or explanations23%7%0%26%32%26%2%9%0%14%0%30%
Record audio, video or photos2%14%51%6%0%2%18%41%84%0%28%0%
Write ideal responses or demonstrations25%6%0%21%16%13%4%5%0%47%0%26%
Solve problems step by step10%16%1%18%45%8%3%2%0%0%0%7%
Hold conversations or sessions7%16%11%14%34%5%2%2%0%8%6%0%
Compare or rank model responses11%10%0%20%2%26%5%7%0%39%0%37%
Edit or rewrite text5%20%5%4%3%12%3%7%0%3%0%48%
Transcribe audio or video0%13%37%0%0%0%6%0%8%0%0%0%
Take part in surveys or studies1%24%1%1%0%3%1%2%2%3%56%4%
Review or debug code3%2%0%78%3%9%3%17%0%3%6%0%
Review agent trajectories or tool use10%2%2%9%5%14%6%25%14%6%6%11%
Review for safety or policy9%4%0%6%1%10%9%0%0%89%0%15%
Write code or tests4%0%1%49%5%7%0%22%2%11%6%4%
Write rationales for judgments8%4%0%7%2%17%9%2%0%22%0%22%
Write rubrics, criteria or guidelines10%0%7%3%5%4%2%7%0%6%0%11%
Review others' work (QA)5%0%11%10%3%5%2%5%2%11%0%4%
Red-team, jailbreak or adversarial testing4%1%0%1%1%8%0%2%0%78%3%0%
Do hands-on professional work (models, analyses, simulations)6%0%0%2%5%2%3%3%0%0%0%0%
Perform physical tasks for robot data0%0%0%0%0%0%3%0%25%0%0%0%

Sample. 3,260 roles open on 17 Oct 2026 whose job board publishes a full description (AfterQuery, Anyone AI, Appen, Babel Audio, Braintrust, Claru, Handshake AI, Invisible, Mercor, micro1, Mindrift, OneForma, OpenTrain AI, Outlier (Scale AI), Pasiflora AI, Perle Labs, Pila8, RemoExperts, Remotasks, Sigma AI, Sovrano AI, SuperAnnotate (SME), Terac, TransPerfect DataForce, Turing, Vetto, Welo Data and xAI (SpaceXAI)), 88.9% of the 3,668 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
$100 to $100257
Perform physical tasks for robot data
$95
$14 to $10811
Review others' work (QA)
$80
$63 to $10080
Do hands-on professional work (models, analyses, simulations)
$69
$43 to $9066
Write ideal responses or demonstrations
$68
$39 to $92362
Hold conversations or sessions
$65
$65 to $65348
Create evaluation tasks, benchmarks or test cases
$65
$40 to $85689
Fact-check or verify accuracy
$65
$36 to $65752
Review or debug code
$65
$50 to $75220
Solve problems step by step
$65
$65 to $65370
Write code or tests
$65
$55 to $83148
Write prompts or questions
$65
$40 to $65700
Write rubrics, criteria or guidelines
$65
$36 to $90149
Rate or score responses against guidelines
$60
$35 to $851,141
Red-team, jailbreak or adversarial testing
$60
$42 to $7963
Give feedback on reasoning or explanations
$55
$40 to $80454
Review for safety or policy
$51
$29 to $70174
Write rationales for judgments
$45
$18 to $73132
Compare or rank model responses
$44
$25 to $70304
Annotate, label or tag data
$37
$25 to $65853
Edit or rewrite text
$36
$25 to $43295
Review agent trajectories or tool use
$35
$20 to $55119
Translate or localise
$34
$20 to $45446
Record audio, video or photos
$30
$20 to $40258
Transcribe audio or video
$25
$14 to $3196

Sample. 3,260 roles open on 17 Oct 2026 whose job board publishes a full description (AfterQuery, Anyone AI, Appen, Babel Audio, Braintrust, Claru, Handshake AI, Invisible, Mercor, micro1, Mindrift, OneForma, OpenTrain AI, Outlier (Scale AI), Pasiflora AI, Perle Labs, Pila8, RemoExperts, Remotasks, Sigma AI, Sovrano AI, SuperAnnotate (SME), Terac, TransPerfect DataForce, Turing, Vetto, Welo Data and xAI (SpaceXAI)), 88.9% of the 3,668 open roles; the boards that publish descriptions are expert networks, so these roles lean towards expert work. 2,626 of the 3,260 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)Invisible (532)Mercor (229)micro1 (248)Mindrift (297)OneForma (24)OpenTrain AI (42)Outlier (Scale AI) (5)Pasiflora AI (7)Perle Labs (67)Pila8 (3)RemoExperts (36)Remotasks (3)Sigma AI (90)Sovrano AI (20)SuperAnnotate (SME) (377)Terac (22)TransPerfect DataForce (66)Turing (190)Vetto (20)Welo Data (235)xAI (SpaceXAI) (15)
Rate or score responses against guidelines57%20%0%0%46%14%94%32%31%38%1%13%45%20%57%0%0%61%67%0%20%91%27%3%42%25%31%0%
Annotate, label or tag data9%0%31%47%44%36%10%30%29%27%5%25%41%0%57%91%0%28%0%100%20%89%14%12%53%10%37%100%
Create evaluation tasks, benchmarks or test cases63%90%0%0%33%2%42%7%48%23%11%4%41%0%0%0%0%33%0%0%75%11%46%3%64%15%12%87%
Fact-check or verify accuracy2%2%0%0%31%5%2%63%4%11%0%0%2%0%0%0%0%3%67%0%5%83%14%2%25%5%7%0%
Write prompts or questions17%2%0%0%12%2%35%60%11%7%1%4%26%0%0%0%0%11%33%0%0%56%9%6%23%0%5%0%
Translate or localise1%1%2%0%33%0%0%28%4%4%0%29%10%0%0%70%0%0%33%92%0%31%0%9%19%5%55%33%
Give feedback on reasoning or explanations6%35%0%0%26%10%7%4%11%8%4%4%10%0%0%2%0%17%0%0%0%71%18%0%10%10%0%0%
Record audio, video or photos21%0%64%7%33%62%0%6%19%5%0%25%5%80%14%12%100%19%0%90%5%9%5%46%6%0%19%100%
Write ideal responses or demonstrations43%6%0%0%22%5%1%0%20%8%14%4%12%0%57%0%0%39%33%0%10%36%5%3%18%15%0%0%
Solve problems step by step3%0%0%0%1%5%1%60%4%5%0%0%7%0%0%2%0%3%0%0%5%4%9%0%21%10%1%0%
Hold conversations or sessions0%0%2%5%0%2%0%61%2%0%0%17%0%20%0%8%67%0%0%0%0%0%0%26%5%10%6%0%
Compare or rank model responses3%2%0%0%21%7%7%0%5%3%0%0%5%0%57%0%0%17%67%0%10%56%5%0%17%5%3%0%
Edit or rewrite text1%0%6%0%30%2%1%14%0%13%1%4%7%0%0%0%0%0%0%0%0%37%0%3%8%10%5%0%
Transcribe audio or video1%0%27%47%3%7%1%0%7%8%0%8%19%0%0%91%0%0%0%99%0%0%0%5%1%0%13%87%
Take part in surveys or studies0%0%0%0%0%0%0%0%2%0%82%4%0%0%0%0%0%0%0%0%5%1%68%3%0%0%0%0%
Review or debug code8%23%0%0%9%5%1%7%6%9%0%0%7%0%0%0%0%17%0%0%5%16%23%3%27%5%0%0%
Review agent trajectories or tool use0%5%0%0%3%19%0%1%10%1%15%0%12%0%0%0%0%0%0%0%5%5%18%0%52%0%0%0%
Review for safety or policy1%0%0%0%1%10%5%1%16%3%0%4%10%0%57%0%0%0%0%0%15%28%0%3%8%10%2%0%
Write code or tests8%22%0%0%6%7%2%1%5%11%1%0%12%0%0%8%0%11%0%2%30%7%23%0%25%10%1%0%
Write rationales for judgments2%0%0%0%1%12%8%0%13%11%4%4%7%0%43%0%0%11%0%0%10%5%0%3%15%30%9%0%
Write rubrics, criteria or guidelines1%0%0%0%0%0%0%8%22%11%0%0%5%0%0%0%0%17%0%0%75%1%5%2%7%0%0%0%
Review others' work (QA)5%13%0%0%4%2%0%0%8%2%0%0%0%0%0%69%0%17%0%0%10%4%5%0%7%0%1%0%
Red-team, jailbreak or adversarial testing0%0%0%0%1%2%4%1%16%1%0%0%7%0%14%0%0%3%0%0%15%7%0%0%5%5%0%0%
Do hands-on professional work (models, analyses, simulations)4%3%0%0%0%0%4%0%3%6%7%0%0%0%0%0%0%6%0%0%10%1%0%0%6%5%1%0%
Perform physical tasks for robot data0%0%2%0%0%0%0%0%0%1%0%0%0%0%0%2%0%17%0%0%0%0%0%3%0%0%1%0%

Sample. 3,260 roles open on 17 Oct 2026 whose job board publishes a full description (AfterQuery, Anyone AI, Appen, Babel Audio, Braintrust, Claru, Handshake AI, Invisible, Mercor, micro1, Mindrift, OneForma, OpenTrain AI, Outlier (Scale AI), Pasiflora AI, Perle Labs, Pila8, RemoExperts, Remotasks, Sigma AI, Sovrano AI, SuperAnnotate (SME), Terac, TransPerfect DataForce, Turing, Vetto, Welo Data and xAI (SpaceXAI)), 88.9% of the 3,668 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 named163
5.0%
1 task789
24.2%
2 tasks502
15.4%
3 tasks394
12.1%
4 tasks660
20.2%
5 tasks357
11.0%
6 or more tasks395
12.1%

Sample. 3,260 roles open on 17 Oct 2026 whose job board publishes a full description (AfterQuery, Anyone AI, Appen, Babel Audio, Braintrust, Claru, Handshake AI, Invisible, Mercor, micro1, Mindrift, OneForma, OpenTrain AI, Outlier (Scale AI), Pasiflora AI, Perle Labs, Pila8, RemoExperts, Remotasks, Sigma AI, Sovrano AI, SuperAnnotate (SME), Terac, TransPerfect DataForce, Turing, Vetto, Welo Data and xAI (SpaceXAI)), 88.9% of the 3,668 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

Buy the data behind this report

The figures above are a summary. Behind them are records we collect ourselves, every day:

  • 9,572 roles tracked, each with its history

    Every role on 29 job boards, read daily since 13 Jul 2026: its pay and place, and the first and last day it was open.

  • 6,200 apply clicks in 28 days

    Which roles people actually apply to, by field, pay and kind of work. It happens on this site, so nobody else can count it.

  • 39 lab and vendor hiring boards

    The job boards of 25 AI labs and 14 human-data vendors, read every day: who is hiring for human data, and who is hiring to buy it.

What you can buy

  • The records

    The rows behind any figure, with their history, not only the totals.

  • A regular feed

    The same figures every week or month, as files.

  • A custom cut or benchmark

    Your countries, languages or fields, or your own platform against the market.

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 dataLast 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, 20 Sep 2026 to 17 Oct 2026). https://www.aitraining.team/research/what-ai-trainers-do (accessed 18 Oct 2026)

BibTeX

@misc{aitrainingjobs_what_ai_trainers_do_live,
  author = {{AITraining.jobs}},
  title = {What AI Trainers Do (live data, 20 Sep 2026 to 17 Oct 2026)},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://www.aitraining.team/research/what-ai-trainers-do}},
  note = {Accessed 18 Oct 2026},
}
Data: every figure as CSV (one line per value) and JSON, sent to your work email.Pay and open-roles data

More research

All 78 research reports