Questions and answers

No, and the platforms say so themselves. micro1 states on role after role that "no prior experience in AI is required; your domain knowledge is what matters". Outlier recruits on declared subject expertise. Ethos matches credentialed professionals to work in the fields they already practise in.

Models need judgement from people who know a subject, whatever their machine-learning background. A nurse, a CFD engineer, a choral musician and a contract lawyer are all currently being recruited for exactly what they already do.

What is genuinely required almost everywhere is written English good enough to explain your reasoning, because the written explanation is usually the actual deliverable rather than a label or a score.

On several platforms, a language model conducts your screening interview instead of a person. On micro1 it is called Zara and it is a required step for essentially every listing; micro1's free practice interviews are labeled 18 minutes, and real ones vary with the skills and exercises a role includes. Alignerr's own onboarding page also names a Zara interview as a possible additional step, and Mercor screens with its own AI interview, which it says usually takes about 20 minutes.

Two things about it are worth knowing before you sit one, because micro1 publishes them and most candidates never find out:

You can practise first. micro1's research paper describes personalised practice interviews, generated for the specific role and skill set you are targeting, as the first phase of the system.

You can ask it questions mid-interview. The same paper states Zara answers clarification questions during the interview, and credits that capability with improving its own question quality. Asking is designed-for behaviour, not a black mark.

The time is unpaid, and passing does not guarantee you a project. Our guide The Zara AI interview covers what it assesses, how proctoring works and what feedback you can request afterwards; micro1 interview questions and the Mercor AI interview cover each platform's interview in detail.

They are different jobs, and the distinction decides what a listing pays and who it hires.

Labeling adds structure to raw material against a written guideline: drawing boxes around objects, tagging a speaker, transcribing audio, marking a sentence as a complaint. There is a correct answer, the guideline tells you what it is, and quality is measured by consistency. It rewards speed and care.

Evaluation begins after a model has produced something. You rate it, rank it against alternatives, or find the specific error in an answer that looks entirely plausible. micro1's STEM Expert listing puts it exactly: you identify "incorrect assumptions, reasoning errors, missing constraints, and subtle technical mistakes". That needs someone who would notice, which is why these listings ask for a credential rather than for AI experience.

There is a third shape now too, and on this board it pays best: you do your own professional work and the platform uses it as training material. Mercor asks contractors to "produce the kind of professional documents and deliverables you create day to day in your own field".

What AI training work actually is covers all three, and which one this board is mostly offering.

Freelance. Every one of the 32 listings on this board as at 8 September 2026 is advertised as remote contractor work, and not one is employment.

That has consequences worth planning around:

• No tax is withheld. Mercor states plainly that it does not withhold taxes and that you are responsible for reporting and paying tax where you live. See will I get a 1099, and does the platform withhold tax.
• No benefits, no notice period, no guaranteed volume. micro1 states that certification does not guarantee immediate placement.
• Hours are usually yours. Several listings are explicitly asynchronous with no set shifts, and micro1's AMO physics role is scoped at 5 to 10 hours a week with after-hours and weekends accommodated.

The exception in shape, though not in status, is the fixed-term project. Mercor's two UK engagements run from 14 September to 10 October 2026 at 40 hours a week, which is effectively a full-time month. Still contractor work, but it suits someone between contracts rather than someone fitting it around a job.

So: treat it as freelance income that varies, not as a salary substitute, and read how you actually get paid before you accept a rate.

It depends on two separate gates, and most people only check one: whether the platform can engage you where you live, and whether the specific project is open in your country.

Only two of the five platforms here publish a policy you can check in advance. micro1 publishes a list of countries it cannot hire from. Mercor publishes the inverse, a list of supported countries and regions, and states it does not engage contractors outside it. Alignerr, Outlier and Ethos publish no country list at all.

On top of that, individual listings carry their own restrictions that no platform policy will show you: several micro1 roles require you to be based in an English-speaking country without defining which ones, and one Mercor role is scoped to the US and Canada outright.

Our guide Who can actually do this work sets out what each platform publishes and what to check before you spend an evening on an unpaid interview.

It varies more between platforms than almost anything else, so it is worth checking rather than assuming.

Outlier requires one. Its FAQ states a minimum of an associate degree, with specific projects requiring a bachelor's, master's or PhD depending on complexity. This catches a lot of otherwise capable applicants.

micro1 depends entirely on the role. Some of its listings ask for no degree at all: its Audio Expert role states outright that "formal education and years of professional experience are not strict requirements". Others gate hard on an undergraduate degree from a "top-ranked university", or on a PhD, or on a completed medical residency.

A degree requirement often stands in for something else. Where micro1 asks for a top-ranked university it is usually also asking for a top-tier employer; where it asks for a PhD the subject expertise genuinely is the job. If you lack the credential but have the skill, look for the listings that gate on demonstrated work instead; they exist on the same board, sometimes for the same kind of task.

Because the hourly figure is a projection, not a wage. Several micro1 listings advertise an hourly band and then state in their compensation section that "compensation is output-based; experts are paid per task that meets the project specifications", adding that the time a task takes "may vary depending on the expert's experience and workflow".

So the band describes what a fast contributor reaches, not what you are owed for time at the desk. Work faster than the platform's assumed pace and you beat it; work slower, or have work sent back, and your effective rate falls.

One micro1 listing quantifies the unit. Its Corporate Counsel role states an average handling time of approximately 3.5 hours per task, and that the effective hourly rate depends on the number of tasks "completed and successfully signed off". Note the second half of that phrase: work that is not accepted is not paid.

Pay structure is set per project, so do not assume the 3.5-hour figure applies elsewhere. Ask what a task is, what it pays, and what the acceptance rate looks like, before you accept.

Each platform publishes its own, and they differ enough to matter. As at 8 September 2026:

Two things worth acting on.

The rail is an eligibility gate. Airtm appears on Outlier's list because PayPal and ACH do not reach everywhere. A platform paying only by ACH, or only into its own wallet, is narrower than one paying by Wise. Confirm it reaches your country before you onboard, not after you have earned a balance.

micro1 differs on both counts: biweekly rather than weekly, and into a micro1 wallet rather than a rail you already hold, which adds a withdrawal step at the end.

None of these platforms withholds tax, and Ethos publishes no payment terms at all until you are through sign-up. How you actually get paid has the full picture, including what to ask before accepting.

No, and micro1 says so directly: passing certification does not guarantee placement on a project.

Screening and staffing are two separate steps across this whole field. You are first assessed as qualified, then matched to a project that has a seat and needs your specific expertise. The second step depends on customer demand, which is why platforms can certify far more people than they can put to work.

micro1's own figures give a sense of the funnel. In a three-day sample it published, there were 4,820 unsuccessful interviews, and that is only the people who did not clear the first gate.

Outlier is similarly plain that available projects vary and may not always match your field, and that projects end when the customer's need ends.

Treat certification as a permission slip rather than a job offer, and do not turn down other work on the strength of having passed one.

It comes and goes, and the platforms are reasonably open about why.

Work is organised as customer projects. When a customer's need ends, the project ends, whatever your performance. Outlier states plainly that available projects vary, may not always match your field, and end when the customer's need does. Contributors posting in r/outlier_ai through 2025 and 2026 describe projects ending without warning and stretches with no work available; Outlier itself publishes nothing about task supply, so treat those as worker reports rather than platform policy.

Expert networks like Ethos are intermittent by design; advisory work pays well per hour and offers few of them.

Two things follow. Treat this as variable income rather than a salary substitute, particularly in the first months before you know your own acceptance rate. And note that several listings pair "no minimum hours" with a weekly submission minimum, so flexibility in one direction does not always mean flexibility in the other. Read the compensation section before assuming.

Yes. micro1 is a real, venture-backed company founded by Ali Ansari. TechCrunch reported a $35 million Series A at a $500 million valuation in September 2025, led by 01 Advisors, and Forbes reported a further raise of more than $100 million at a $4 billion valuation in September 2026. It also publishes research on its AI interviewer, Zara, on arXiv.

Legit is not the same as guaranteed work. Entry is through the Zara AI interview, and micro1 itself says certification does not guarantee immediate placement. Critical reviews on Trustpilot describe interview glitches and feeling rushed, and some posts online argue the interviews exist to collect training data; we could not verify that either way, and found no lawsuit or regulatory action against micro1 as of September 2026.

See our micro1 page for how the interview works, who can apply and what workers report.

Yes. Mercor is a real company, founded in 2023 by Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath and Surya Midha and based in San Francisco. It announced a $350 million Series C at a $10 billion valuation in October 2025, led by Felicis, and it publishes the APEX benchmarks on how AI models handle expert work.

There are caveats worth knowing. Scale AI sued Mercor over alleged trade-secret theft in September 2025, which Mercor denies; we found no reported ruling as of September 2026. In March 2026 Mercor confirmed it was affected by a compromise of the open-source LiteLLM project, and TechCrunch and PYMNTS reported contractor class actions afterwards, which Mercor disputes. Screening gives little feedback and being accepted does not guarantee ongoing work.

See our Mercor page for how matching works, the country check and what contractors report.

Yes, it is a real platform that pays real people. DataAnnotation's contractor terms describe the work as provided for Surge Labs, Inc., the company behind Surge AI, and a May 2025 class action complaint names the defendant as "Surge Labs, Inc. dba DataAnnotation". It pays through PayPal, lists rates from $20 an hour for multilingual work to $50–$100+ for coding and STEM work in its FAQ, and its Trust & Safety page states it will never ask you for money.

Legit is not the same as predictable. Workers on Reddit and Trustpilot consistently report silence after the one-attempt Starter Assessment, long stretches without tasks, and accounts closed with no specific reason. DataAnnotation does not publish eligible countries, removal criteria, or how much work you can expect.

The name is also used by impostors. DataAnnotation warns that people have used its brand to commit fraud and says the only way to apply is its own sign-up flow, so type dataannotation.tech yourself rather than following a link from a recruiter. Our full guide covers what it publishes and what workers report: Is DataAnnotation.tech legit?

Not necessarily, and generally no. This work is independent contractor work everywhere on this site, which means tax is your responsibility rather than something deducted before you are paid.

Mercor is the most explicit. Its contractor documentation states it "does not withhold taxes from your payments", that you are classified as an independent contractor responsible for reporting and paying all required taxes in your country, and that EU-based contractors "will not receive a 1099 form or equivalent"; you report from your Stripe payout records and your own bookkeeping. EU contractors are also required to complete a W-8BEN during onboarding, certifying they are not a US person for tax purposes and may be eligible for reduced withholding under a tax treaty. Mercor further states it is not VAT-registered in the EU and does not collect or remit VAT on your behalf.

Other platforms handle this differently and most do not publish their approach at all, so confirm it per platform rather than generalising from the above.

Two practical consequences. Keep your own records (invoices, payment confirmations, annual summaries) because you may not be issued any. And check whether your country requires you to register as a freelancer or hold a tax ID before you can lawfully invoice a foreign company; Mercor states that is on you, and the others largely do not raise it.

This is not tax advice. Rates, treaties and registration rules vary by country, and a local accountant will cost less than getting it wrong.

No. None of the platforms listed on this site charges you to apply, to sit an assessment, or to be matched to work. Ethos states that joining is free; the others run free sign-up and free screening as a matter of course.

If something asks you for a fee to access AI training work (for a "certification", a training course, equipment, or a placement), treat that as disqualifying.

Two related things that are normal and are not fees: identity verification with a government ID, and tax paperwork such as a W-8BEN. Both are standard contractor onboarding. Money moving from you to a platform is not.

Unpaid time is a different question. Assessments and AI interviews genuinely are unpaid on several platforms, and onboarding can run to an hour or more before you earn anything. That is worth weighing, but it is not a scam signal on its own.

One signal outranks all the others: you are asked for money. Any amount, for any reason. A certification, a training course, a starter kit, equipment, a background check, a placement fee. Every legitimate platform pays you and none charges you, so this is unambiguous and it ends the conversation.

Other signals that mean stop:

• Banking credentials rather than banking details. A real platform needs somewhere to send money: an account number, a PayPal address, a Wise account. It never needs your online banking login, your card PIN, or a passcode read aloud.
• The whole process lives in a chat app. No company domain, no application portal, no contract.
• An offer for work you never applied to, especially with a rate attached.
• A domain that is nearly right. Check it character by character against the company's own site.
• No rate published anywhere, even on request.
• Urgency on a decision involving your ID or bank details.
• Payment in cryptocurrency or gift cards. None of the real platforms here use anything of the kind.

Equally useful is knowing what is normal and alarms people wrongly: an AI conducting your interview, an unpaid assessment before you know your rate, a request for government ID, tax paperwork before you earn, and silence after you pass. All five are standard across the platforms on this board.

Is AI training work legitimate, and how to spot the fakes has the reasoning behind each signal, and the risks that are real on legitimate platforms too.