Many people accumulate years of work experience, only to find it difficult to secure a job after immigrating abroad. Mo Zohourian, who has 15 years of entrepreneurial and business management experience, immigrated from Iran to Canada in 2023. For nearly 10 months, he struggled to find employment until he came across a job advertisement on LinkedIn: recruiting AI trainers, with no required experience, offering $15 per hour. What was initially intended as a temporary job to make ends meet unexpectedly turned into his main occupation, making him a sought-after AI trainer in the eyes of enterprises.
Zohourian told Business Insider, “When I started this job, I never imagined that AI would one day become my career.” Initially approaching AI training with skepticism and a sense of having no other choice, he even kept it a secret from his wife until he received his first paycheck and disclosed his AI training job to her.
Currently, Zohourian works for multiple AI training companies, utilizing his expertise in sales management for AI assessment tasks, now earning an hourly rate of $100. Additionally, he has established an AI consulting firm to help small businesses enhance work efficiency through AI, and founded the AI training education platform “Annotation Academy” to teach others how to become AI trainers.
Zohourian mentioned that the companies he worked with had various skills assessments. By passing these tests, he qualified for more critical and higher-paying projects. Consequently, he passed tests in English literature, logical reasoning, and mathematics, leading to an increased hourly rate of $35. Subsequently, he took on projects for multiple companies, earning between $45 and $70 per hour for different tasks.
However, the salaries for such work are not fixed, and the pay for the next project could be lower than the previous one. As a freelance worker, he has limited bargaining power and must decide whether to accept projects with varying rewards.
Zohourian said, “The real turning point came when I started receiving projects in my own professional field. Taking on sales-related projects significantly increased my income and provided much more stable job opportunities because it aligned with my expertise.” Today, he is a sales management expert handling high-level projects, maintaining an hourly rate of $100 for the past 10 months.
He believes that his accumulated experience in AI training was crucial for landing well-paid sales projects later on. “Initially, professional AI training projects mainly focused on STEM fields such as physics, chemistry, and programming. When platforms began seeking sales professionals, I had already built a solid work record across various platforms with recognized task quality, enabling me to secure sales projects successfully.”
Zohourian noted that AI training work was relatively simple in the past, involving tasks like writing prompts, providing two responses, and a brief explanation. With the emergence of Agentic AI and more powerful models, trainers now need to evaluate AI performance in more complex, multi-step tasks, moving beyond simple text-based responses.
“There is currently a great demand in the market for individuals who can deliver high-quality training outcomes while possessing specific domain expertise,” he said. “Having worked in the sales field for 15 years, I have developed a deep affinity for this industry and thought staying in the familiar sector would lead to quicker advancement. Little did I know that transitioning to AI training would present me with unprecedented growth opportunities.”
Zohourian emphasized that he did not view AI training solely as a means of earning extra income but as a source of livelihood supporting his personal and career development. Although his company is profitable, he does not draw a salary from it, relying on income from AI assessments to sustain himself while reinvesting the company’s earnings for future growth.
On average, he spends 20 to 40 hours per week training AI for other companies. In times when projects on hand pause for 1 to 2 weeks or even up to a month, he utilizes these gaps to take on additional projects or focus on managing his own business.
Despite the long working hours, Zohourian values the flexibility of being able to arrange his time, enabling him to drop off and pick up his son from school and spend quality time with him, something that full-time employment might not offer.
This article was referenced from reports by Business Insider and IT industry media dev.ua.