As America’s tech titans met with President Trump in Washington to talk about the future of humanity and whether AI will mark the end of civilization or take our jobs, U.h. companies have cited AI as the No. 1 reason for layoffs so far this year.
San Francisco Startups Scaling Up AI Human Training Operations
In a downtown San Francisco office, Mercor scaled its workforce from 20 employees in January of last year to 400 people, establishing itself as a key player in the booming AI training sector. The multibillion-dollar company was founded by 23-year-old CEO Brendan Foody and two high school friends after the public debut of ChatGPT. To improve advanced LLMs, the firm determined that models required more specialized, nuanced data than what was readily available on the open internet.
AI went from this high-powered search engine to all of a sudden we’re in astrophysics. We’ve gone from cutesy to holy moly in a very short amount of time. — Jon Wertheim, CBS News
When major AI developers seek to upgrade models like ChatGPT or Claude in complex domains such as finance, architecture, or poetry, they turn to Mercor. The company assembled a freelance network of more than 100,000 human experts.
Domain Experts Teaching Algorithms Complex Trades
Among those training models are winemakers, music producers, and physicians working late evening shifts as a side gig. Dr. Melania Poonacha reported training algorithms to accurately interpret laboratory results, while songwriter Robbie Hiser evaluated competing variations of generated lyrics. Hiser expressed confidence that creative fields will maintain a human element, noting that algorithms lack personal life experiences, such as dealing with a romantic breakup, to draw from.
Foody envisions an eventual utopia where advanced systems assist in curing cancer and solving climate change while automating routine tasks to increase worker productivity. When asked if the technology threatens human careers, Foody argued that the shift represents a natural evolution of labor rather than an outright elimination of demand for human expertise.
Law Firms Testing Automation in Courtrooms
This workforce transformation extends far beyond Silicon Valley tech hubs into traditional industries. In Columbus, Ohio, the law firm Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease—operating since 1909—is home to trial lawyer and partner Kim Herlihy, who manages the changing dynamics of courtroom litigation and client services.
