Amazon is shutting down a go-to option for gig workers. It's the latest casualty of AI growth.
Amazon is shutting down its Mechanical Turk platform by September 30, impacting gig workers as AI increasingly handles simple tasks.
Amazon is shutting down Mechanical Turk on September 30, the latest casualty of the rapid growth of artificial intelligence. This crowdsourced work platform, once a favorite among gig workers, struggled as AI use increased. Mechanical Turk, initially created in 2005 to combat duplicate product listings, evolved into a tool for humans to complete tasks beyond the capability of machines.
These tasks ranged from transcribing audio recordings to providing survey data for researchers, and it even attracted political campaigns. At its peak, Mechanical Turk employed over 500,000 workers who could work on their own schedule and earn as little as a few cents per task. The platform was even used by some gig workers to prepare data for AI training.
However, as AI technology advanced and real-world data sets became more prominent, many AI training efforts shifted away from Mechanical Turk. It appears that real artificial intelligence has taken over many of the tasks that the platform once facilitated.
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