By Jess Santacroce
Writer/Editor: The 315
Producing our art work typically does not pay the bills when we play, self-publish and read, or show our work locally. Local artist blessed with the opportunity to earn all of their money from their art often do that by mixing teaching the art, managing an arts-related business, or doing other work in our art with creating and offering our own original work. Others maintain second careers, have day jobs, or do side gigs or side hustles to make ends meet. Job hunting is often a big part of our lives, and in 2026, that can be a big mess of misleading or daunting listings.
One of the most common job listings today is the “AI trainer” job offer. At first glance, these seem like a perfect fit for an artist, the opportunity to perform a few tasks on a computer at your own convenience and make money. Look a little deeper, and there are a few things to consider before even clicking on that job ad link.
There are more than a few ethical issues to consider when considering becoming deeply involved with AI
Stating “I don’t use AI” or “I’m against AI” is a badge of honor, especially for many on the political left. While the right is currently more closely associated with support of AI, many conservatives speak out against what they see as a progressive or leftist bias in the information many of the bots offer, and in the overall tone of the bots’ communication.
Both sides are doing a bit of pointless posturing for attention, and both sides make some good points. The leftists who condemned their friends for making sparkly candy cane pictures last Christmas seemed to forget that they were using an internet browser to post their condemnations. These browsers had built-in AI that used the same data centers they were speaking out against, AI tools that activated anytime they ran an internet search for anything. At the same time, AI data centers do use an inordinate amount of water, and we probably do not need five on every block of every city and town in America. The right-wing fit over the tone and content bias of AI bots is similarly ridiculous for its hypocrisy. The same people who argue that it isn’t okay for a bot, which is nothing more than a tool somebody created, to reflect the biases of the tool’s creator have no problem with entire organizations that promote their own biases. They do, however, make a good point that people know what they’re getting into when they engage with material from Turning Point USA, while the material from the bot is presented as fact. The left and right seem to come together to argue that AI created content is substandard, and that the use of AI is causing issues in our cognitive and social functioning.
Regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum or where you stand on the use and promotion of AI, these are all things to think through before deciding how deeply involved you want to get with AI technology, or how much you want to help an AI bot in the first place.
Most AI training job listings are scams
Should you decide that you are comfortable training AI bots, that you can position yourself to be part of the solution to whatever issues you believe are problematic about AI, you may still not really get the chance to do so for money. Most of the “AI trainer” listings you see are scams.
Chances are, you see the same company offering work over and over again, or in a constant stream. If you clicked on one of these, you noticed they offer you the chance to take a test right away. That test is long, often full of research and response tasks that will take you an hour or more to complete.
As with any company that asks you to do a bit of the work you’d be expected to do on the job during the application process, these AI companies have no intention of hiring you for any paid work. They’re just using the job interview process to collect material they can use instead of paying someone to produce it. They don’t have to pay someone to do a hundred hours of work if they can get a hundred people to contribute one hour thinking they’re taking a test.
Once you find an AI training position that is both ethical and genuine, there is still the strong probability that you are being offered gig work, not a true job
Gig work is always touted as flexible work, and it is. Unfortunately, one of the reasons for the flexibility is that there are only short bursts of work available. Just like with Uber, DoorDash, and other gig work jobs, you may find an AI training opportunity you want, log in, and sit there staring at the screen for hours before being offered any real work.
This type of work can make money, but success seems to require going to one of two extremes. Those who need it to generate enough cash to pay their bills or fund a large goal wind up devoting their entire workday to gig work, often settling for much less money overall than they would make at a more traditional day job. People who just need a little spending money may find success with it, but only if the amount they need is very little, and they don’t mind giving up a bit of extra time to get it.
Photo credit: stock photo
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