Key findings

1
17.5% of the 3,260 AI training roles with a full description mention a PhD, and 25.5% mention a PhD or a master's degree.
Figure 1
2
10.5% mention a professional credential: 75 roles a medical degree and 60 a law degree or bar admission.
Figure 2
3
Where a role states years of experience (25.8% of roles), the median ask is 3 years; 28.9% ask for 5 years or more.
Figure 3
4
Roles that state weekly hours (23.4%) ask for a median of 15 hours a week; 22.3% ask for 40 or more.
Figure 4
5
14.7% of roles mention an assessment, test or trial task, and 4.5% an AI-led or recorded video interview.
Figure 5
6
The tools named most often are Python (390 roles), Excel or spreadsheets (240 roles) and Git or GitHub (104 roles).
Figure 7

Figure 1

Degrees mentioned, by kind of work

How many AI training roles ask for a PhD, a master's or a degree?

Kind of work	PhD	Master's	Bachelor's	No degree named	Roles read
All roles read	17.5%	8.0%	12.3%	62.2%	3,260
Math & STEM	69.3%	14.4%	2.0%	14.4%	202
Law, Medicine & Finance	29.9%	7.5%	12.9%	49.6%	1,006
Coding & Software Evaluation	15.9%	10.5%	19.7%	53.6%	239
AI Evaluation & Rating (RLHF)	13.8%	7.3%	8.3%	70.6%	109
Red-Teaming & AI Safety	11.1%	5.6%	27.8%	55.6%	36
Writing & Content	6.7%	6.7%	33.3%	53.3%	30
Multilingual & Localization	6.6%	11.4%	15.1%	66.9%	968
Agentic Tasks & RL Environments	5.1%	6.8%	6.8%	81.4%	59
Data Annotation & Labeling	1.7%	2.5%	19.2%	76.7%	120
Transcription, Audio & Speech	0.0%	0.7%	3.2%	96.1%	408
Research Studies & Surveys	0.0%	2.9%	11.8%	85.3%	34
Robotics & Physical-AI Data	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	100.0%	49

Sample. 3,260 roles open on 17 Oct 2026 whose job board publishes a full description (AfterQuery, Anyone AI, Appen, Babel Audio, Braintrust, Claru, Handshake AI, Invisible, Mercor, Mindrift, OneForma, OpenTrain AI, Outlier (Scale AI), Pasiflora AI, Perle Labs, Pila8, RemoExperts, Remotasks, Sigma AI, Sovrano AI, SuperAnnotate (SME), Terac, TransPerfect DataForce, Turing, Vetto, Welo Data, micro1 and xAI (SpaceXAI)), 88.5% of all open roles.

Each role counts once, at the highest degree its description mentions. A mention can be a requirement or a preference ('a PhD is a plus'): the figure counts both.

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, What AI Training Roles Require, live data.

Figure 2

Professional credentials mentioned

How many roles ask for a medical, legal, financial or nursing credential?

Credential	Roles mentioning it	Share of roles read	Main kind of work
A professional licence (any)	219	6.7%	Law, Medicine & Finance
Medical degree (MD or DO)	75	2.3%	Law, Medicine & Finance
Law degree or bar admission	60	1.8%	Law, Medicine & Finance
Board certification	37	1.1%	Law, Medicine & Finance
CPA or CFA	47	1.4%	Law, Medicine & Finance
Nursing licence (RN, NP)	21	0.6%	Law, Medicine & Finance

A role can mention several credentials and counts once for each.

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, What AI Training Roles Require, live data.

Figure 3

Years of experience asked for

How much experience do AI training roles ask for?

Experience stated	Roles	Share of roles stating years
1 to 2 years	237	28.1%
3 to 4 years	362	43.0%
5 to 9 years	149	17.7%
10 years or more	94	11.2%

Sample. 842 of the 3,260 roles read state a number of years of experience (25.8%).

The first figure stated before 'years of experience' counts ('3+ years of clinical experience' is 3).

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, What AI Training Roles Require, live data.

Figure 4

Weekly hours stated

How many hours a week do AI training roles expect?

Hours stated	Roles	Share of roles stating hours
Under 10 hours a week	88	11.5%
10 to 19 hours	294	38.5%
20 to 29 hours	203	26.6%
30 to 39 hours	8	1.0%
40 hours or more	170	22.3%

Sample. 763 of the 3,260 roles read state weekly hours (23.4%).

The lower figure of a stated range counts ('10 to 20 hours a week' is 10): it is the commitment a role asks for at least.

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, What AI Training Roles Require, live data.

Figure 5

Selection steps mentioned

What does it take to get accepted?

Step	Roles mentioning it	Share of roles read
An assessment, test or trial task	480	14.7%
An interview (with a person or unspecified)	161	4.9%
An AI-led or recorded video interview	148	4.5%
A background check	6	0.2%
Identity verification	24	0.7%

An AI-led or recorded video interview is counted on its own line, not again as an interview.

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, What AI Training Roles Require, live data.

Figure 6

Terms of work mentioned

Are AI training roles remote, part-time and freelance?

Term	Roles mentioning it	Share of roles read
Remote work	2,310	70.9%
Contractor or freelance terms	1,774	54.4%
Part-time	349	10.7%
Full-time	175	5.4%
A flexible or self-set schedule	429	13.2%
Employee benefits or W-2	607	18.6%

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, What AI Training Roles Require, live data.

Figure 7

Tools and technical skills named

Which tools do AI training roles ask applicants to know?

Tool or skill	Roles naming it	Share of roles read	Of them, coding roles
Python	390	12.0%	24.1%
Excel or spreadsheets	240	7.4%	7.1%
Git or GitHub	104	3.2%	44.2%
CAD tools	95	2.9%	3.2%
JavaScript or TypeScript	79	2.4%	91.1%
Java	66	2.0%	92.4%
Linux or the command line	59	1.8%	30.5%
SQL	55	1.7%	49.1%
C or C++	48	1.5%	58.3%
Design tools (Figma, Adobe)	43	1.3%	4.7%
LaTeX	30	0.9%	0.0%
Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure)	24	0.7%	58.3%
Machine learning frameworks	23	0.7%	39.1%
React	22	0.7%	90.9%
Statistics software (R, Stata, SPSS)	9	0.3%	33.3%

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, What AI Training Roles Require, live data.

Figure 8

Requirements by platform

How do the platforms that publish full descriptions differ in what they ask?

Platform	PhD or master's mentioned	Credential mentioned	Median years asked	Median weekly hours	Assessment mentioned	Roles read
Invisible	50.4%	3.0%	n/a	n/a	3.8%	532
SuperAnnotate (SME)	35.8%	15.4%	3	n/a	11.1%	377
Mindrift	14.8%	10.8%	n/a	10	0.0%	297
micro1	10.5%	21.4%	3	15	23.8%	248
Welo Data	0.9%	0.4%	1	20	11.1%	235
Mercor	16.6%	17.9%	4	20	12.7%	229
AfterQuery	25.0%	30.1%	2	10	40.7%	216
Turing	34.2%	9.5%	3	40	33.7%	190
Handshake AI	29.4%	7.1%	2	5	5.3%	170
Anyone AI	74.2%	2.3%	3	20	57.8%	128
Sigma AI	0.0%	0.0%	30	n/a	0.0%	90
Braintrust	21.8%	10.3%	3	25	19.2%	78
Perle Labs	1.5%	0.0%	n/a	n/a	16.4%	67
TransPerfect DataForce	1.5%	4.5%	n/a	35	7.6%	66
Appen	0.0%	0.0%	n/a	10	0.0%	55
Babel Audio	0.0%	0.0%	n/a	n/a	0.0%	43
Claru	2.4%	0.0%	n/a	n/a	4.8%	42
OpenTrain AI	11.9%	0.0%	n/a	20	9.5%	42
RemoExperts	25.0%	69.4%	3	n/a	5.6%	36
OneForma	0.0%	0.0%	n/a	n/a	8.3%	24
Terac	4.5%	4.5%	n/a	n/a	4.5%	22
Sovrano AI	5.0%	30.0%	2	10	80.0%	20
Vetto	10.0%	0.0%	n/a	n/a	20.0%	20
xAI (SpaceXAI)	86.7%	6.7%	n/a	10	0.0%	15
Pasiflora AI	42.9%	0.0%	n/a	n/a	14.3%	7
Outlier (Scale AI)	0.0%	0.0%	n/a	n/a	100.0%	5
Pila8	0.0%	0.0%	n/a	n/a	0.0%	3
Remotasks	0.0%	0.0%	n/a	n/a	33.3%	3

Medians need at least 5 roles stating the figure.

Source. AITraining.jobs Research, What AI Training Roles Require, live data.

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10,301 roles tracked, each with its history
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Method and definitions

The public job boards of the AI training platforms this site tracks, read every day. Full descriptions are read for the roles whose feed publishes them. Every figure is computed by one database query over the window shown, the same query for the live report and for every edition. Each figure states its sample beneath it.

Mention: A description mentions a degree, credential, step or tool when it contains one of the documented patterns for it (whole words, case-insensitive). A mention may be a requirement or a preference.
Highest degree: Each role counts once, at the highest degree its description mentions: PhD, then master's, then bachelor's, then student.
Years and hours: The first figure before 'years of experience', and the lower figure of a stated weekly range ('10 to 20 hours a week' is 10).
Coverage: Only roles whose job board publishes a full description are read; each figure states how many that is.
Open role: A role listed by a given day and still in its platform's feed that day.
Kind of work: Each role is classified from its title and description into one of the twelve kinds of AI training work this site tracks, from AI evaluation and coding to multilingual and audio work. Every kind links to its own page.
Window: Live: the last 28 complete days, in UTC. Edition: one calendar month, in UTC.

What this data cannot tell you

Platforms that recruit without a public job board are not counted. Several large ones invite workers to projects directly.
A listing is not a hire. Some platforms keep evergreen roles open for months, and some post one listing per language or country.
The platforms that publish full descriptions are expert networks, so these roles lean towards expert work.
A pattern can miss a requirement phrased in an unusual way; nothing is inferred beyond what the text says.

How the job feeds are read and roles are classified: site methodology. How fresh, complete and consistent the data is, checked every day: data quality and coverage.

Editions

The live report covers the last 28 complete days and changes every day. Each complete month is also published as an edition, frozen two days after the month ends, so a figure you cite from an edition never moves.

Live data (this page)Last 28 complete days, recomputed daily

Cite and reuse

Free to quote, chart and republish under CC BY 4.0 with a link to this page. Live figures change daily: cite a monthly edition for numbers that will read the same later, or keep the access date.

Citation

AITraining.jobs (2026). What AI Training Roles Require (live data, 20 Sep 2026 to 17 Oct 2026). https://www.aitraining.run/research/what-ai-training-roles-require (accessed 18 Oct 2026)

BibTeX

@misc{aitrainingjobs_what_ai_training_roles_require_live,
  author = {{AITraining.jobs}},
  title = {What AI Training Roles Require (live data, 20 Sep 2026 to 17 Oct 2026)},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://www.aitraining.run/research/what-ai-training-roles-require}},
  note = {Accessed 18 Oct 2026},
}

Data: every figure as CSV (one line per value) and JSON, sent to your work email.Pay and open-roles data

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