In a recent episode of "60 Minutes," Jon Wertheim discusses the impact of artificial intelligence on employment with Brendan Foody, CEO of Mercor, a San Francisco-based company that helps AI systems improve by training them with specialized knowledge from human experts. The article highlights how U.S. companies have cited AI as the primary reason for layoffs this year, raising concerns about job security across various industries. While Mercor has grown rapidly since its founding four years ago, employing over 400 people and amassing a network of more than 100,000 freelancers to train AI systems in diverse fields like finance, architecture, and medicine, the episode questions whether this technology will fundamentally transform work environments or lead to widespread job loss.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-05,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
This past week in Washington, America's tech titans met with President Trump to talk about, well, the future of humanity … specifically, will AI, artificial intelligence, mark the end of civilization as we know it?
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we → meet → it
Only slightly less grave and only slightly less depressing, there's a related, more immediate question: Will AI take our jobs?
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AI → be → jobs
Real Jon walks out:
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Jon → walk → ?
So it is, we don't exempt ourselves in wondering: is any line of work safe?
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line → exempt → work
So far this year, U.S. companies have cited AI as the No. 1 reason for layoffs.
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companies → cite → layoffs
AI, after all, doesn't sleep, or take sick days.
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AI → sleep → days
Is this technology simply going to transform how and where we work, much the same way other workplace revolutions did?
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revolutions → go → ?
Here in this nondescript office in downtown San Francisco, these 20-somethings are designing the future of your workplace.
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somethings → design → workplace
You may not have heard of Mercor, but it's quickly become a leader in a booming new industry built around supercharging the already supercharged rise of artificial intelligence.
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it → hear → intelligence
Backstory: four years ago, ChatGPT came out and Foody and his two co-founders — high school buddies — saw where the technology was heading.
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technology → come → ?
To get better, AI needed more information than what was widely available on the internet.
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what → get → internet
AI went from this high-powered search engine to all of a sudden we're in astrophysics.
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we → go → astrophysics
We've gone from cutesy to holy moly in a very short amount of time.
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We → go → time
I think that's spot on.
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that → think → ?
And the core thing powering that huge transformation and the capabilities is human intelligence.
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thing → power → transformation
It seems like overarching goal, anything we humans can do, we want AI to be able to do.
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AI → seem → ?
I think a significant portion of things.
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I → think → things
Everything that humans want AI to be able to do — we wanna teach it how to do that.
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we → want → that
So what does Mercor do?
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Mercor → do → what
Well, when the big AI companies want, say, ChatGPT or Claude to improve in a particular field, they hire Mercor to make their models smarter.
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models → want → Mercor
Mercor has assembled an army of more than 100,000 freelancers — humans! — ready to use their hard-earned expertise to train the AI.
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Mercor → assemble → AI
I work late in the evening …
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I → work → evening
We met three such experts: Shawna Miller, a winemaker; Robbie Hiser, a music producer; and Melania Poonacha, a physician.
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We → meet → experts
When you're assigned a task, what are you actually doing?
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you → assign → what
How are you training AI?
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you → train → AI
On one project we were training the AI to be able to accurately interpret laboratory results.
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we → train → results
For a songwriting project, you might get two different versions of the same lyric.
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you → get → lyric
And then you go through and give feedback on it.
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you → go → it
All three have full-time jobs.
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three → have → jobs
Long-term, by spending hours teaching a computer the tricks of their trade, are they not training themselves out of a career?
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they → spend → career
No, they insist.
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they → insist → ?
Hiser believes that great songwriting, for instance, will always require the human touch.
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songwriting → believe → touch
AI doesn't have any life experience to pull from you know, an AI never had a girlfriend break up with it.
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girlfriend → have → it
JON WERTHEIM: Real-life inputs that impact songwriting in a way that–
ROBBIE HISER: Absolutely.
JON WERTHEIM: –the robots– yeah–
JON WERTHEIM:
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that → impact → way
I don't think so.
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I → think → ?
Ultimately, Brendan Foody foresees a utopia: advanced AI helping us cure cancer and tackle climate change.
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us → foresee → change
Liberated from the dullest parts of their jobs, they'll be more productive than ever.
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they → liberate → jobs
People still have this fundamental question, is my job safe from AI?
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job → have → AI
How do you answer that?
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you → answer → that
I think the key thing to look at is if you become more productive, is there more demand for your expertise in the economy?
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you → think → economy
…and 83 more, not listed.
The Aporia
