Laid-off Professionals Forced to Train AI That Could Replace Them

Laid-off lawyers, history P h D s , and scientists are now part of a miserable gig economy in which they’re teaching AI how to do their old jobs. If you’re still employed… You Could Be Next by Josh Dzieza Art by Samar Haddad Mar 10, 2026, 9:00 AM GMT Link Share Gift | This article is a collaboration between The Verge and New York Magazine .

T he The LinkedIn post seemed like yet another scam job offer, but Katya was desperate enough to click. After college, she’d struggled to make a living as a freelance journalist, gone to grad school, then pivoted to what she hoped would be a more stable career in content marketing — only to find AI had automated much of the work.

This company was called Crossing Hurdles, and it promised copywriting jobs starting at $45 per hour. Katya clicked and was taken to a page for another company, called Mercor, where she was instructed to interview on-camera with an AI named Melvin. “It just seemed like the sketchiest thing in the world,” Katya says. She closed the tab.