A few years ago, “training AI” usually meant working inside a machine-learning team. However, that has changed.
Today, companies pay people to review AI answers, write difficult prompts, check factual claims, annotate images and video, evaluate search results, record voices, and apply professional knowledge to problems an AI model gets wrong.
The catch is that these companies are not interchangeable. Some are built for general contributors. Others want lawyers, programmers, doctors, researchers or linguists. Some offer small data-collection tasks. Others advertise expert work worth $20 - $75 or more an hour.
Here are 30 legitimate companies and platforms worth checking in 2026.
1. Mindrift
Mindrift is one of the best options for people who have actual subject-matter expertise. The platform network covers more than 90 domains and 20+ languages, with work involving AI-output evaluation, rewriting and expert-generated responses. Its current advertised rates range from entry-level projects to $60–$100+ an hour for domain experts.
For professionals considering the platform, Mindrift’s 2026 contributor opportunities provide a useful picture of the type of work available.
Best for: writers, researchers, lawyers, coders, STEM professionals and other specialists.
2. CNTXT AI
CNTXT AI focuses on building safe, culturally aligned, and sovereign AI models. It operates an expert network specifically for AI training. Its current site reports more than 100,000 contributors, 50+ languages and 30+ countries, with roles spanning audio, coding, general evaluation and STEM.
Best for: specialists, generalists and multilingual contributors.
3. iMerit
iMerit has been working in data annotation and AI/ML data for years. Its career operation includes annotation roles as well as iMerit Scholars, a flexible remote programme for domain experts whose knowledge is matched with AI projects.
Best for: annotators and professionals with specialist knowledge.
4. OneForma
OneForma is particularly relevant to people interested in language, data collection, annotation and search-related work. Projects can be highly specific about country, language and qualifications. Therefore, registering does not mean every available project will appear on your dashboard.
Best for: multilingual workers and people comfortable with task-based AI work.
5. BLEND
BLEND is primarily a global localization company, but its current platform also includes multilingual AI-training services. BLEND merged with Tasq.ai, combining its localization and domain-expert network with Tasq.ai's AI data infrastructure.
Best for: translators, linguists and localization professionals.
6. DATAmundi
DATAmundi combines AI data services with a contributor network called DATAtalent. Its work includes data annotation, evaluation, data collection and multilingual projects, while its expert services cover fields such as legal, finance, healthcare and technology.
Best for: language specialists, annotators and subject-matter experts.
7. Welo Data
Welo Data is worth watching closely if you are outside the United States. Its current network includes AI trainers, linguists, evaluators and domain experts, and the company supports more than 100 countries.
There is a particularly useful detail for Nigerian applicants. Its current job board lists AI Trainer Network opportunities for Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.
Its AI training opportunities and requirements provide more information about the type of work contributors can encounter.
Best for: linguists, African-language speakers, evaluators and AI trainers.
8. RWS TrainAI
RWS TrainAI offers freelance, remote, part-time work involving AI data. Current opportunities include ad evaluation and project-specific data work, and RWS explicitly allows people at different career levels to join.
Best for: beginners, language specialists and experienced freelancers.
9. Outlier
Outlier remains one of the largest names in freelance AI training. Its contributors write prompts, create grading rubrics and evaluate model responses. The company network includes hundreds of thousands of experts across dozens of fields.
The important part is the range. Current opportunities include coding, writing, STEM, languages and specialist roles.
Best for: graduates, professionals and subject-matter experts.
10. DataAnnotation
DataAnnotation is aimed at people who can evaluate and improve AI-generated work. Its current listings include coding, finance, legal, healthcare, STEM, accounting, languages and generalist roles, with advertised expert rates reaching well above ordinary annotation work.
Best for: professionals with strong writing, reasoning or technical skills.
11. Mercor
Mercor focuses heavily on professional expertise. Its current marketplace includes roles for finance specialists, lawyers, healthcare professionals, engineers, accountants and other experts.
This is not the place to apply with a vague “I know AI” profile. Your professional background is the product.
Best for: experienced professionals and domain experts.
12. Turing
Turing has expanded from remote software hiring into AI-training and evaluation work. Its AI roles can involve coding, reasoning, model evaluation and specialist knowledge.
Best for: software engineers, generalists, technical professionals and AI specialists.
13. Alignerr
Alignerr describes itself as an expert network for training AI and currently advertises opportunities across coding, STEM, audio and general domains. The platform hires PhDs, researchers, subject-matter experts and experienced professionals.
Best for: highly skilled professionals and researchers.
14. HumanSignal
HumanSignal's expert platform connects contributors with paid AI-training projects. Its current listings include legal, medical, writing, physics, finance and creative roles, with advertised rates varying by expertise.
Best for: professionals with demonstrable expertise.
15. Prolific
Prolific is better known for paid research studies, but its AI Tasker programme has made it much more relevant to AI workers.
Participants who pass Prolific's AI Task Assessment can gain access to specialised studies involving AI evaluation and training.
Best for: people who want research-based AI evaluation work.
16. CrowdGen by Appen
CrowdGen is Appen's contributor platform. It offers remote tasks used to improve AI systems. Its community spans more than 200 countries and 500 languages.
The work ranges from data collection to online evaluation and specialised projects.
Best for: beginners, multilingual contributors and experienced data workers.
17. TELUS Digital AI Community
TELUS Digital AI Community remains one of the most established sources of remote search and AI-evaluation work.
Its current board contains roles such as Online Data Analyst, Media Search Analyst and Quality Assurance Rater. Many are part-time and location-specific.
Best for: search evaluators, internet users and multilingual workers.
18. LXT
LXT offers flexible online work in AI data collection, labelling and transcription. LXT says its contributor opportunities are remote and that it works with Clickworker for some crowd-based projects.
Best for: data collectors, annotators and transcriptionists.
19. DataForce by TransPerfect
DataForce operates a global community for data collection, annotation and AI-related projects.
The work can include speech, images, video and other forms of human-generated data. Availability depends heavily on location and project requirements.
Best for: contributors interested in data collection and annotation.
20. Clickworker
Clickworker is one of the more accessible entry points into data work. Its services cover AI training datasets, human-powered labelling, annotation and validation, including image, video, audio and text data.
Best for: beginners and people starting with smaller AI-data tasks.
21. Toloka
Toloka connects people with task-based data work used in machine-learning workflows. It is particularly relevant for contributors who want flexible projects rather than a conventional employment arrangement.
It is also the parent company behind Mindrift, although the two platforms target different types of work.
Best for: task-based contributors and people building AI-data experience.
22. Surge AI
Surge AI is a recognised AI-data company working on human-generated training data. Its work has included language, coding and other demanding data tasks.
Best for: experienced AI-data workers, writers and technical contributors.
23. Invisible Technologies
Invisible Technologies combines technology with human-powered AI operations. Its opportunities can include AI data production, evaluation and technical roles, although not every opening is a freelance contributor position.
Best for: experienced AI operations, technical and data professionals.
24. Scale AI
Scale AI is one of the best-known companies in the AI data industry. Its work covers data annotation, RLHF, model evaluation, computer vision, 3D data and other forms of human-generated training data used to develop AI systems. The company currently hires across research, engineering, operations and other AI-related functions.
Scale AI is more relevant to people looking for AI-industry jobs and specialised roles than simple microtasks, so applicants should check its current openings rather than expect a general contributor marketplace.
Best for: AI professionals, researchers, data specialists, engineers and experienced operators.
25. TaskUs
TaskUs is a large business-process and digital-services company with dedicated AI operations. Its work includes data annotation, content moderation, AI training, model evaluation and other human-in-the-loop services supporting AI companies.
The company is particularly worth watching for people interested in AI operations and data work at scale, although available positions depend on country, project and hiring demand.
Best for: AI trainers, data annotators, content reviewers and operations professionals.
26. Lionbridge
Lionbridge combines AI data services, language expertise and human-in-the-loop workflows. Its Aurora AI platform is not a freelancer marketplace itself, but Lionbridge's wider language community and AI operations create opportunities for linguists and other specialists.
Best for: translators, linguists and localization specialists.
27. micro1
micro1 is an AI data platform that connects remote workers and professionals with projects used to train and evaluate AI systems. While the platform has opportunities for specialists in areas such as engineering, finance, healthcare, legal work, economics and linguistics, it also offers generalist roles for people who do not have a specialised professional background.
Its generalist work can involve analysing and annotating data, reviewing AI-generated responses, checking whether outputs follow instructions, identifying errors or inconsistencies, and providing clear written feedback. The platform also runs more specialised data-collection projects. One example is the AI Facial Data Collection Associate – Siblings role, which involves collecting facial data from sibling participants for AI training. The role shows that micro1's opportunities are not limited to evaluating AI responses or completing online annotation tasks. Some projects involve contributing real-world data that can be used to improve computer-vision and other AI systems.
Its process includes an application, AI interview and onboarding before experts are matched to projects.
Best for: generalists and professionals who want AI work connected to their existing career.
28. Stellar AI
Stellar AI offers project-based data annotation and AI-training work under an open-ended contractor model.
There is an important catch: joining the contributor pool does not guarantee immediate work. onboarding on Stellar depends on client demand and skill matching.
Best for: flexible annotation and AI-training work.
29. Chorus Audio
Chorus Audio focuses specifically on voice data. Contributors record conversations or scripts that are used to train audio AI, with the platform currently advertising more than 10,000 voice contributors and weekly payments.
This is a very different type of AI job from evaluating an LLM.
Best for: speakers, voice contributors and people comfortable recording audio.
30. Uber AI Solutions
Uber AI Solutions is not a normal freelancer marketplace, so it should not be confused with Outlier or DataAnnotation.
Uber operates a large data-collection and annotation operation supporting AI applications, including mapping and speech recognition. Its global network includes more than 10 million contributors and specialists.
For someone looking for employment or contractor opportunities connected to large-scale AI data operations, it is worth monitoring.
Best for: data professionals, field contributors and people interested in large-scale AI data operations.
The important part nobody puts in the headline
A $75-per-hour AI-training project that gives you four hours of work is not a $75-per-hour job in the ordinary sense. A platform may also require qualification tests, identity verification, training, unpaid screening or project-specific assessments before you ever see paid tasks. Therefore, availability matters. So does your location. So does your skill set.
The smartest approach is to build a small portfolio of legitimate platforms instead of depending entirely on one website. One platform might have coding work this month. Another might open a legal evaluation project that matches your degree perfectly.
AI training has become a real category of remote work, but it is not one job.
It is a collection of jobs sitting behind the same broad label:
human beings checking, correcting, explaining and improving what machines produce.
The people who do best are usually not the ones who apply everywhere. They are the ones who understand what they are good at, find the platforms buying that particular skill, and keep checking when new projects open.
And that is the part worth paying attention to in 2026.
