LinkedIn pays to train AI
LinkedIn is testing an AI labor marketplace that would let professionals earn up to $150 an hour training AI models, positioning the platform against startups in the space (businessinsider.com). At the same time X is changing payouts to favor original creators over clickbait and repost accounts, a policy shift aimed at rewarding new, value‑adding posts (theguardian.com).
LinkedIn is testing a marketplace that would pay professionals up to $150 an hour to help train artificial intelligence models. (aol.com) LinkedIn confirmed to Business Insider that the product is in early testing and said the work would cover fields including coding, nursing and finance. The company is owned by Microsoft, and the tests would turn LinkedIn’s professional network into a source of paid model-training labor. (waveclouds.io) These jobs are the human side of artificial intelligence: people rate answers, correct mistakes and probe where a chatbot fails, then that feedback is used to improve the system. LinkedIn said artificial intelligence training is already one of the fastest-growing job categories in the United States. (waveclouds.io) The move puts LinkedIn into a market now served by specialist firms that recruit experts for model training and evaluation. Business Insider reported LinkedIn’s test is aimed at the same fast-growing niche as startups such as Mercor and Surge AI. (aol.com) The timing lines up with LinkedIn’s own labor-market data. A January 2026 article from the World Economic Forum, citing LinkedIn data, said artificial intelligence had added 1.3 million jobs even as overall global hiring slowed 20% from pre-pandemic levels. (weforum.org) At the same time, X is changing who gets paid on its platform. X head of product Nikita Bier said on April 12 that “all aggregators” had their payouts cut to 60% in the current cycle, with another 20% deduction planned for the next one. (techcrunch.com) Bier said the cuts target accounts that flood timelines with reposts and clickbait, including habitual “BREAKING” posts that repackage other people’s reporting. He said the goal is to stop copied posts from crowding out original creators and newer authors. (news9live.com) The two changes point in opposite directions for the same internet economy. LinkedIn is trying to pay people for specialized expertise that makes artificial intelligence systems better, while X is cutting payments to accounts that add little new information to the feed. (aol.com) (techcrunch.com) Neither company has laid out the full long-term rules yet. LinkedIn described its marketplace as a test, and X said the payout changes are being applied in the current and next pay cycles rather than as a one-time warning. (waveclouds.io) (techcrunch.com)
