Workers are getting paid to teach AI how to do their jobs

Artificial intelligence developers want to know what you know.

Leading makers of generative AI tools are hiring people with a wide range of skills and expertise, from Hollywood screenwriters to hiking enthusiasts, to train their bots to be smarter, according to job postings.

“They are some of the fastest-growing jobs out there,” said Christine Cruzvergara, vice president of higher education and student success at Handshake, a hiring platform that connects people with different backgrounds and skills to leading AI labs.

“As large language models have consumed much of the available data out there, we are now at a stage where they need more fine-tuning and reinforcement,” she added.

Brendan Foody, CEO of Mercor, which helps AI companies recruit people to help train their apps, told CBS News that “training agents is going to become the largest job category in the world.”

The write stuff

Hollywood screenwriter and author Robin Palmer is among those lending her skills to training AI. She spends 30 hours per week teaching chatbots how to produce compelling creative writing.

Palmer compared the current ability of large language models, or LLMs, to write creatively to that of fledgling writers.

“They’re turning in work and you’re looking at, ‘Does this work structurally, how is the characterization, are there clunky transitions?'” she said. “I really like seeing how AI is improving. It’s almost like working with a student and saying, ‘Yeah, you’re getting better.'”

Foody said AI labs are particularly eager to enlist people with deep expertise in their domains.

“We hire everyone ranging from chess champions to wine hobbyists to help train [AI] agents to be better, because ultimately we want them to know how to give better advice in a chess match or recommend what wine you should have with dinner,” he said.

Job postings typically don’t disclose which AI developers are hiring, and workers who take the job must sign non-disclosure agreements. AI companies are…

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