Amazon is shutting down Mechanical Turk after more than 20 years

Amazon is set to discontinue Mechanical Turk, a crowdsourcing platform that has been operational for over two decades, by September 30, 2026. The decision to shut down the service comes amid rising competition and the growing influence of AI-based platforms. While Amazon has not specified a particular reason for the change, the decline in popularity and usage of MTurk appears to be a significant factor.

Initially launched in 2005, Mechanical Turk provided companies with a platform to hire remote workers, referred to as Turkers, to carry out menial tasks on an as-needed basis. These tasks included validating or tagging data, moderating content, answering surveys, and more. Under the Amazon Web Services brand, Mechanical Turk aimed to leverage human judgment and skills in areas where computers struggled to perform.

At its peak, Mechanical Turk had employed more than 500,000 remote Turkers from over 190 countries. Notably, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos once referred to it as the "artificial artificial intelligence" service due to its capability to outsource tasks that computers found challenging for humans to execute.

However, over time, Mechanical Turk's user base has been dwindling. Competing platforms such as Scale AI, Mercor, and Prolific have emerged, offering workers the opportunity to assist in training large AI models. A 2023 study raised concerns about the quality of data generated by MTurk, as it was found that nearly 46% of Turkers relied on generative AI and chatbots to complete tasks.

Furthermore, Mechanical Turk has faced criticism for exploiting human labor. Computer scientist Jaron Lanier highlighted that the platform was designed to transform individuals into components of larger business operations. Many Turkers had limited options and bargaining power in case of billing disputes, particularly those from economically precarious backgrounds.

Amazon began winding down Mechanical Turk last month by ceasing to accept new customers. The company has since issued an FAQ addressing how workers can resolve any remaining billing issues with the platform.