Data scraped from the web for AI is out — specialized human-made data is in

Despite the billions and billions of dollars flowing into AI companies, most are not making a profit just yet. On the flip side, companies like Mercor or Surge AI, which are in the business of supplying AI companies with highly specialized data from human workers, are among the fastest-growing companies of all time.

Josh Dzieza is the investigations editor at The Verge, where he co-wrote a piece with Hayden Field about what it takes to feed the beast that is AI models. Dzieza joined “Marketplace” host Kimberly Adams to talk about who these workers are and what the future of the industry looks like.

Click the media player above to hear the conversation.