In the heart of San Francisco’s tech ecosystem, a groundbreaking transformation is taking place as professionals across industries teach artificial intelligence to think, diagnose, and perform complex tasks. Dr. Alice Chiao, a medical expert, exemplifies this emerging trend by training AI chatbots to understand medical scenarios and provide intelligent responses.

Mercor, a local startup valued at $10 billion, is at the forefront of this revolution. The company connects experts from diverse fields like medicine, law, finance, and even comedy with AI companies seeking nuanced human insights. These professionals earn substantial hourly rates while helping AI models become more sophisticated and accurate.

For Dr. Chiao, this isn’t about replacing doctors, but enhancing medical care. She views AI as a tool to help physicians spend more time engaging with patients and less time on administrative tasks. By using real-life medical scenarios, she trains AI to understand complex interactions from both patient and doctor perspectives.

The company’s approach involves a sophisticated grading system where experts evaluate AI responses using carefully crafted rubrics. This “reinforcement learning” allows AI models to improve through continuous feedback, making them increasingly reliable across various domains.

Mercor’s rapid growth reflects the immense potential of this emerging industry. Founded by 22-year-old Brendan Foody and his colleagues, the company now pays out over $1 million daily to thousands of experts. Their vision extends beyond immediate technological advances, with Foody believing that making people more productive can help solve global challenges like climate change and medical research.

While concerns about job displacement persist, experts like Dr. Chiao see AI as a collaborative tool rather than a replacement. The technology is still far from replicating the intuitive “gut feeling” that comes from years of human experience and personal interaction.

As AI continues to evolve, these training processes will become increasingly crucial in developing intelligent, empathetic, and reliable artificial intelligence systems that can genuinely assist humans across multiple professional domains.