Handshake AI Fellowship (2026): pay, who gets in, and where it's available

What the fellowship is

Handshake runs a careers network used by colleges and employers. In January 2025 it started an AI training business, Handshake AI, and the fellowship is how it hires people for that work (Stripe). Fellows are independent contractors. They work on projects for AI labs (Handshake doesn't name them), and the work is the same kind found on Mercor or Outlier: grading AI answers against a rubric, writing better answers, and finding where models go wrong in a subject you know. How that work feeds model training.

Handshake's fellowship page reports 188,000+ fellows and more than $500 million paid out (Handshake). Stripe, which handles the payouts, reports more than $15 million paid to fellows each week (Stripe). These are the companies' own figures; we can't check them.

Who can apply

• Location: the fellowship page says you must be based in the U.S. with work authorization Handshake can support (Handshake), but each listing states its own location rule, and 38 live roles accept people elsewhere. See where.
• Visas: F-1 students eligible for CPT or OPT may qualify. STEM OPT is not supported. J-1 and H-1B holders may qualify, and you're responsible for staying within your visa terms (Handshake help center).
• Education: the program is open to bachelor's, master's and doctoral students, candidates and graduates, and needs no AI experience (Handshake help center). In practice the listings lean graduate-level: 63% of live roles name a PhD and 55% name a master's (many name both). 84 roles name no degree at all.

Where Handshake AI is available

Handshake's fellowship page says fellows must be based in the U.S. (Handshake), but every opportunity page states its own location rule, and some are open elsewhere. As of October 29, 2026, 225 of the 263 open roles are limited to the United States and 38 accept people outside it, in Canada, India, Mexico, Japan, United Kingdom, Brazil, EU, Germany, Indonesia, Latin America and South Korea; 6 accept people anywhere in the world.

Read from each listing's own location line (“Based in South Korea”, “Based anywhere in the world”), or its title when the description doesn't say. Listings that state neither are counted as U.S.-only, the fellowship's default. Your work authorization still has to fit; check the listing before you apply.

What it pays

Handshake's homepage says fellows can “earn up to $100/hr” (Handshake). Each listing states a ceiling, “Up to $X/hr, depending on the project,” and the live listings go higher than the homepage: 88 roles list up to $100/hr or more and 34 list above $125. At the low end, 7 roles list under $30/hr, mostly general and language evaluation work. Because these are ceilings, we compare them with the top of other platforms' ranges, not their midpoints.

Handshake vs other platforms, field by field

Median top rate for the same field: Handshake's “up to” rate against the top of each listed range on every other platform we track (Mercor, micro1, Alignerr and OpenTrain AI). Role counts in brackets. Generalist roles are left out because the label covers different work on each platform.

Fields with fewer than 5 paid roles on either side are not shown. Differences under 15% are within normal variation and shown in grey.

Pay by the degree a role asks for

Each role counts once, under the highest degree it names; medical-license roles also appear in their degree row. “No credential stated” means the listing names none, not that the work needs none: specialist roles such as anesthesiologists or radiologists often state the requirement only in their title, so this row mixes entry-level evaluation work with some of the best-paid roles.

Best-paid fellowship roles open now

1. 1Anesthesiologists AI TrainerAsks for MD / licensed physicianUp to $300/hr
2. 2Medical ProfessionalMedicine & healthUp to $300/hr
3. 3Neurologists AI TrainerAsks for Master's, MD / licensed physicianUp to $300/hr
4. 4Nuclear ProfessionalEnergy & earth sciencesUp to $300/hr
5. 5OphthalmologistsAsks for MD / licensed physicianUp to $300/hr
6. 6RadiologistsAsks for PhD, Master's, MD / licensed physicianUp to $300/hr
7. 7Intelligence Expert (Bachelor's, Master's and PhDs) - AI TrainerAsks for PhD, Master'sUp to $200/hr
8. 8Psychiatrists AI TrainerAsks for MD / licensed physicianUp to $200/hr
9. 9CardiologistAsks for PhD, MD / licensed physicianUp to $180/hr
10. 10Emergency PhysicianAsks for PhD, MD / licensed physicianUp to $180/hr

All 263 open Handshake AI roles, filterable by field and pay. See what a rate means after tax with the take-home calculator.

How you get paid

• Weekly, through Stripe. The pay week runs Monday 12:00 am to Sunday 11:59 pm Pacific. Handshake sends payouts by Wednesday afternoon, and funds usually take about two days to become withdrawable. Some projects use a different schedule (Handshake help center).
• Set up before your first project. Payout setup starts in Handshake AI and finishes in Stripe: a tax form (W-9 for most U.S. fellows, W-8BEN for non-U.S.) and a payout method (Handshake help center). Changing your payout method later needs a selfie re-verification.
• Missing pay. If you have no pay notification, Handshake asks you to wait until Friday noon Pacific before contacting support (Handshake help center).
• Hourly or per task. Most projects pay by the hour or per task, as set in each project's terms. On hourly projects, paid time covers preparing, submitting and revising tasks, up to any maximum handling time the project sets (Handshake help center).
• Taxes. Nothing is withheld because fellows are contractors. Taxes for AI trainers covers quarterly payments and deductions.

What isn't paid

Handshake's help center is specific about this (Handshake help center). Count on these being unpaid unless your project terms say otherwise:

• Onboarding and training, unless the project terms say they're paid.
• Account setup, identity checks and payout setup.
• Optional meetings and office hours. Required meetings only when the terms say so.
• Time in Slack or other community spaces.
• Time lost to technical problems.

Logging time that isn't eligible can mean that time goes unpaid, and repeat cases can get you removed from a project (Handshake help center).

How to apply, step by step

1. Apply and verify your identity on the Handshake AI site (Handshake). Use your real degree and field; matching is based on your background, not your preferences (Handshake help center).
2. Wait to be matched. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, and you're invited by email when a project fits. No reply doesn't mean you were turned down.
3. Set up Stripe early. You can finish the tax form and payout method before you're invited, so you can start right away (Handshake help center).
4. Pass the project's training and assessment. Some projects need you to pass an assessment first (Handshake help center). How AI training assessments work.
5. Start as soon as you're allocated. Handshake says project availability can change quickly (Handshake help center).

Apply only through joinhandshake.com. Handshake never charges you to join; if a “recruiter” asks for money or moves you to WhatsApp, check the message.

Risks to know about

• A lawsuit over contractor status. Boggs v. Stryder Corp. (N.D. Cal., No. 3:26-cv-07498), filed July 20, 2026, is a proposed class action alleging Handshake misclassified thousands of college students and others as contractors while controlling their assignments, pay and methods (Law360). On October 22, 2026 the court paused the case for mediation, with a status report due February 5, 2027 (court docket). Similar suits name other AI training platforms, including Mercor (court docket). These are allegations, not rulings. Keep your own record of hours worked and paid.
• Work can stop suddenly. Projects start, pause or end based on the labs' needs, sometimes with short notice (Handshake help center). Don't rely on one project for income.
• Quality removals. Fellows can be removed from a project or from Handshake AI for missing quality standards or breaking guidelines, and work done in violation may go unpaid (Handshake help center).
• If a payment is missing. Handshake asks you to wait until Friday noon Pacific before contacting support, and to raise pay disputes through its form once funds have landed (Handshake help center). Keep your own log of hours and tasks.

The referral program

Handshake pays fellows for referring new fellows (Handshake referral terms):

• You earn 10% of the referred fellow's hourly rate on their first accepted project (10% of the stated hourly equivalent on per-task projects).
• The cap is 40 times that rate per referral, so in effect up to 40 hours' worth. At the $80/hr median that's $8 an hour, up to $320 per person.
• The new fellow must sign up through your link, finish onboarding and log 10 paid hours within 6 months of creating their account. You must have an active account when the bonus pays.
• Bonuses are paid weekly with your regular pay.

We don't earn anything from Handshake referrals. How we make money.

How Handshake compares

Handshake lists a ceiling for each role, pays weekly and mostly hires U.S.-based graduates. Mercor and micro1 screen with an AI interview and hire more internationally. Handshake vs Mercor · Handshake vs micro1 · Handshake vs Alignerr · Handshake vs Outlier. Or see every platform ranked by pay.