Updated

Updated · CNBC · Aug 26

Amazon Shuts 21-Year-Old Mechanical Turk by Sept. 30, 2026 as AI Rivals Erode Demand

Updated

Updated · CNBC · Aug 26

Amazon Shuts 21-Year-Old Mechanical Turk by Sept. 30, 2026 as AI Rivals Erode Demand

1 articles · Updated · CNBC · Aug 26

Sept. 30, 2026 is the shutdown date Amazon posted for AWS Mechanical Turk, ending the crowdsourcing platform after 21 years and after it stopped taking new customers last month.
500,000 workers once used MTurk, but organizers say the service had been declining as AI models improved, rivals such as Scale AI and Prolific drew away work, and Amazon invested less in upgrades.
46% of MTurk workers used AI tools to complete tasks in a 2023 Swiss study, underscoring quality concerns on a platform built for low-paid jobs like data labeling, transcription and surveys.
Insurance and travel companies still relying on MTurk are now seeking alternatives, while some full-time turkers face the loss of a remote gig platform Amazon once pitched as available 24/7.

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With MTurk shutting down next month, what happens to the thousands of gig workers relying on its micro-income?

As AI bots infiltrated human tasks, did technology ultimately destroy the very platform built to train it?

Will the industry shift toward expensive, specialized human review drastically slow down academic research and AI development?

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