In July 2023, I unexpectedly received a professional message on LinkedIn from a recruiter representing Scale AI. The message extended an invitation for me to apply for a position as a law domain expert on Remotasks, a digital crowdsourcing platform owned by Scale AI, which at the time served as an operational predecessor to the later and better-known Outlier platform. By early August of that same year, I had completed the onboarding process and officially joined the platform. However, despite my early start, I did not engage deeply or contribute substantial hours of work until several months later—around March or April of 2024—when my involvement began in earnest. During this period, the platform incentivized productivity through enticing daily bonuses contingent upon meeting specific hourly targets. The combination of high base pay, consistent bonus structures, and reliable weekly payments quickly distinguished AI-related work from the content creation projects that had previously occupied most of my professional time. Additionally, the absence of the constant need to seek new clients, an ongoing challenge in my earlier freelance endeavors, made this opportunity considerably more appealing. Consequently, I decided to place my travel agency franchise temporarily on hold, shifting my focus toward this emerging and dynamic area of work.
Since that transition, AI training has evolved into my principal and most stable source of income. I now dedicate approximately thirty to thirty-five hours each week to this work, occasionally enhancing my earnings by engaging in supplemental online writing projects. My entry role—originally designated as a law domain expert—has, interestingly enough, rarely demanded legal expertise in practice. Instead, the majority of the assignments entrusted to me have involved a wide spectrum of general, non-STEM subject matter. These projects have required the application of nuanced multimedia prompt-engineering techniques, as well as sophisticated evaluation of AI-generated responses for accuracy, coherence, and contextual appropriateness. Much of this work overlaps with quality assurance responsibilities, reinforcing the importance of precision, analytical thinking, and consistency.
At one point during the previous year, I briefly collaborated on the Mindrift platform, though my involvement was minimal and short-lived. The vast majority of my AI-related freelance work continued to occur through Remotasks and later Outlier, up until the summer of 2024. More recently, however, I have shifted the predominant portion of my professional activities to the Mercor AI platform, which currently provides most of my assignments and income. The compensation structures across these platforms have varied over time. Outlier initially compensated me at a rate of forty-five dollars per hour, which was subsequently adjusted to forty dollars. More recently, the rates have fluctuated between thirty-five and fifty dollars per hour, though there exists an internal pay structure that automatically reduces the hourly rate to precisely $21.16 after a predetermined period—one that consistently falls short of the actual time necessary to complete a task adequately. This reduction effectively diminishes the real rate of pay, rendering it substantially lower than the advertised figure, and has become a significant factor in my decision to minimize further engagement with Outlier.
By contrast, Mercor’s payment system offers greater variability across projects, but the assignments I am currently involved with provide steady remuneration at $45 and $45.50 per hour, respectively. Among the many advantages of freelancing across these AI platforms are the chance to contribute meaningfully to a rapidly advancing field and the opportunity to acquire specialized, transferable skills that hold value well beyond the immediate scope of this work. The compensation levels are also competitive and highly favorable given my background and professional experience. Moreover, a particularly rewarding element has been the professional camaraderie—collaborating with exceptionally intelligent, humorous, and talented colleagues from around the world who share similar interests in technology and innovation.
Nevertheless, this line of work is not without its difficulties. The absence of true job security remains a persistent concern, as employment is typically dependent on the continuity of short-term contracts. While certain projects conclude abruptly, requiring me to regularly apply for new assignments, extensions are relatively common. Additionally, positive performance often results in personal recommendations from project leads, leading to invitations for subsequent projects, which helps maintain a more consistent workflow. Even with these positive aspects, the work can occasionally verge on monotony, particularly during repetitive tasks that offer limited intellectual variety. Furthermore, poorly organized or mismanaged projects can escalate into confusion, inefficiency, and frustration for contributors.
In response to concerns raised about compensation and time estimation practices, a spokesperson for Scale AI informed Business Insider that Outlier provides contractors with both pay rate details and estimated completion times before the initiation of any project. According to this representative, when contributors collectively report that certain tasks consistently require more time than projected, the company undertakes an internal review to reassess and, when warranted, adjust the parameters of those tasks. This statement reflects an awareness of the ongoing balance between operational efficiency and fair treatment of freelance contributors—a balance that continues to define the evolving relationship between human expertise and the expanding frontier of AI training work.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-get-ai-training-freelancer-how-much-money-contractor-2025-11
