Is working in AI training data a waste of time?

- Handshake is a popular US college job/networking platform, especially for early-career roles. The URL leads to a job posting for an "AI training data" role (Generalist, Bachelor's level), likely a contract position labeling data to improve AI models. - "AI training data" work — also called data annotation, labeling, or reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) — involves humans reviewing model outputs, ranking responses, or labeling images/text. It's a growing category of gig-economy-style labor that undergirds the current AI boom. - The article's title asks whether this is a "waste of time," reflecting a common debate: these jobs offer low barrier to entry and pay okay, but have little career advancement, no benefits, and raise questions about whether the skills transfer to higher-level AI/ML roles.