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What is an AI trainer? The job, the pay and who hires (2026)
By Michael Cortez · Updated · How we research
An AI trainer is someone paid to write, check and grade the work of AI models, so the models learn what a good answer looks like. Most are paid by the hour and work remotely through platforms such as Mercor, micro1, Handshake AI, Alignerr, Appen and OpenTrain AI. As of October 30, 2026, we track 2,160 open AI trainer roles across six platforms; the median pays $62.50 an hour.
The short version
- 63% of roles hire for a profession, such as lawyer, radiologist or software engineer. These pay a median of $73/hr, against $44/hr for roles defined by a task.
- The most common named task is rating and reviewing AI output (419 roles).
- 72% of roles name no degree or license.
- 98% of roles that state a commitment are part-time, hourly or task-based.
What does an AI trainer do?
AI models learn what a good answer is from people who show them and grade them. An AI trainer does that work: comparing two answers and saying which is better, grading an answer against a rubric, writing the ideal answer, or trying to make the model fail. These tasks feed a training method called RLHF.
Job titles show two kinds of AI trainer. 799 of the 2,160 live roles (37%) name a task. The other 1,361 (63%) name a profession or field and hire you for what you know.
Roles that name a task
| Task | Roles | Median | Example roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rating and reviewing AI output judging a model's answers or code against guidelines, such as which of two is better or whether one is correct and safe | 419 | $55/hr | Machine Learning Evaluation Specialist; Civil Rights AI Evaluation Attorney (English) |
| Recording voice, video or photos recording your voice, yourself or your surroundings as training data | 116 | $60/hr | German - Generalist Voice Actor; Professional Voice Actor - German |
| Transcription writing down exactly what is said in audio, often in a specific language | 112 | $23/hr | Hebrew Language Transcription Expert; Transcription and Review Specialist (Japanese and English) |
| Writing prompts, problems and answers writing questions, test tasks, rubrics or model answers for a model to learn from | 64 | $60/hr | Legal AI Evaluation and Rubric Design Expert; Educator/ Assessor Writer |
| Showing AI agents how to use software doing real tasks in apps such as Excel, Blender or an IDE so AI agents learn the workflow | 41 | $35/hr | Application Users - Excel on macOS - Professionals; Application Users - Linux Ubuntu 24.04 Expert - Professionals |
| Labeling and annotation tagging what's in images, video, audio or documents | 33 | $31/hr | Data Labeling Specialist; Video Annotation Specialist |
| Red teaming trying to make a model produce harmful or unsafe output, so the lab can fix it | 14 | $70/hr | Red-Teaming Quality Assurance Lead; AI Red Team Penetration Tester |
Read from each role's title, first match wins. Medians use the midpoint of each listed hourly range and are shown only with 10+ priced roles. Transcription pays the least of these, a median of $23/hr. Labeling, transcription and rating jobs
Roles that hire a profession
Most titles read like any job ad: "Corporate Attorney", "Radiologist", "Mechanical Engineer". The work is the same kinds of task, in a field where judging the answer takes expertise. The largest groups are engineering (146), software & coding (145), business & operations (131), medicine & health (129) and finance & accounting (116). AI trainer jobs by profession
Who hires AI trainers?
AI labs need the training data; platforms find the trainers, run the screening and pay them. 246 of the 2,160 live listings say the work is for an AI lab. The platforms we track list these roles today:
- OpenTrain: 675 open roles, median $55/hr
- Alignerr: 516 open roles, median $60/hr
- micro1: 333 open roles, median $73/hr
- Mercor: 321 open roles, median $80/hr
- Handshake AI: 264 open roles, median listed ceiling $80/hr
- Appen: 51 open roles, median $34/hr
AI trainer job description
What a typical AI trainer listing asks for, summarized from all 2,160 live roles:
- Role
- Write, review, rate or correct AI model output in your area of skill, following detailed project guidelines.
- Typical tasks
- Rating and reviewing AI output; recording voice, video or photos; transcription; writing prompts, problems and answers.
- Requirements
- Skill you can show in a field or language. 72% of listings name no degree or license; 13% ask for a PhD and 12% a master's. Expect a screen first: an AI interview (Mercor, micro1) or a skills assessment (DataAnnotation, Outlier).
- Schedule
- 98% part-time, hourly or task-based; median stated cap 20 hours a week (from 674 listings). Work comes in projects that can start and stop.
- Location
- Remote. 1,125 roles state no country limit, 583 name eligible countries and 452 (21%) are US-only.
- Pay
- Median $62.50/hr; middle half $40 to $90. On contract roles, Mercor, Handshake AI and Alignerr pay weekly and micro1 twice a month.
- Employment
- Most of these roles are contract work, paid with nothing withheld for tax. 32 are W-2 employee roles on Mercor (through Cincinnatus LLC, its employer of record), which withhold tax like any job.
What skills and qualifications do you need?
Platforms hire people who can show they know the subject. 72% of live listings name no degree or license; the rest ask for one. Pay differs a lot by what the listing asks for:
| Listing asks for | Roles | Median |
|---|---|---|
| MD / licensed physician | 87 | $138/hr |
| Licensed attorney | 105 | $135/hr |
| PhD | 283 | $83/hr |
| Master's | 254 | $66/hr |
| No credential stated | 1,548 | $60/hr |
| Native speaker | 106 | $30/hr |
Credentials as each listing states them; a role can ask for more than one. Shown with 10+ priced roles.
Routes that don't need a degree include a language you speak natively (19% of roles are for a specific language, though native-speaker roles pay a median of $30/hr), strong writing, coding you can demonstrate, or hands-on work experience. Roles with no degree required
How much does an AI trainer make?
The median live role pays $62.50 an hour, and the middle half pay $40 to $90. The best-paid fields are law ($116/hr), medicine & health ($90/hr) and machine learning ($90/hr); voice & audio pays the least ($25/hr). Another 264 roles list only a maximum ("up to") and aren't in these medians.
Few roles are salaried. At the median rate and the median 20 hours a week that listings state, 50 weeks comes to about $62,500 a year before tax. That assumes the hours hold all year, which listings don't promise. AI trainer pay in full · Take-home calculator
Is demand for AI trainers growing?
Our daily record starts on October 19, so it's short. On the platforms we have tracked the whole time (Alignerr, Handshake AI and Mercor), open roles went from 1,070 on October 19 to 1,101 on October 30, and the median listed rate held at about $63/hr. Roles open and close every day, so a few weeks can't show a lasting trend. Pay trends updates daily, and the monthly report compares like with like.
Is an AI trainer a real job?
Yes. The platforms we track are real companies that pay trainers, and each platform profile sets out its record with sources. Two things to know before you start:
- Contractor status is contested. Proposed class actions allege that Mercor and Handshake misclassify trainers as contractors (allegations, not rulings), and Scale AI agreed to settle California misclassification claims by former contractors.
- Scammers copy real platform names. The FTC's advice: never pay anyone to get a job or to get paid, and ignore unexpected job offers by text, WhatsApp or Telegram. Check a recruiter message
How to become an AI trainer
Pick the field or language you can prove, apply on two or three platforms that hire for it, and pass their screen. The step-by-step guide covers each platform's interview and pay setup, or browse all 2,160 open roles.
Questions people ask
What is an AI trainer?
An AI trainer is someone paid to write, check and grade the work of AI models, so the models learn what a good answer looks like. Most are paid by the hour and work remotely through platforms such as Mercor, micro1, Handshake AI, Alignerr, Appen and OpenTrain AI. As of October 30, 2026 we track 2,160 open AI trainer roles, with a median of $62.50 an hour.
What does an AI trainer do?
The most common task named in job titles is rating and reviewing AI output (419 roles), which means judging a model's answers or code against guidelines, such as which of two is better or whether one is correct and safe. Other roles write prompts and model answers, transcribe audio, record voice or video, label data, or test models for unsafe output. 63% of roles don't name a task at all: they hire a profession, such as a lawyer or radiologist, to judge the model's work in that field.
Can anybody be an AI trainer?
Many roles are open to people without a degree: 72% of live listings name no degree or license. But platforms still screen you before paid work (Mercor and micro1 run AI interviews; DataAnnotation and Outlier use assessments), and the best-paid roles ask for a credential (a median of $138/hr for roles asking for a licensed physician, against $60/hr for roles that name none).
How much does an AI trainer make?
The median live role pays $62.50 an hour, and the middle half pay $40 to $90. At the median 20 hours a week that listings state, 50 weeks comes to about $62,500 a year before tax, if the hours hold, which listings don't promise.
Is an AI trainer a legit job?
Yes. The platforms we track are real companies that pay, and each platform profile sets out its record with sources. Two cautions: several platforms face lawsuits claiming trainers are misclassified as contractors, and scammers copy real platform names. The FTC's advice is never to pay anyone to get a job.
Is AI training a full-time job?
Usually not. 98% of the 1,307 listings that state a commitment are part-time, hourly or task-based, and the median stated cap is 20 hours a week. Most of these roles are contract work, paid with nothing withheld for tax. 32 are W-2 employee roles on Mercor (through Cincinnatus LLC, its employer of record), which withhold tax like any job.
Sources
- White v. Mercor.io (N.D. Tex., No. 6:26-cv-00201), docket
- Boggs v. Stryder Corp. (N.D. Cal., No. 3:26-cv-07498), docket
- McKinney v. Scale AI settlement website
- FTC: How to spot and avoid task scams (Aug 2025)
- Live pay data: public listings read daily by AI Training Pay. Methodology.
Founder and editor of AI Training Pay. Search and AI strategist with nearly 20 years in digital marketing.