In partnership with
The Big Sip
Image: CafeF
The take: Uber's Digital Tasks program now hires PhDs for $50-100/hour to train AI models.
What happened: On 5 November 2025, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced Uber expanded its Digital Tasks program to include PhD-level workers for AI training tasks.
Why it matters: Gig platform work expands into specialized knowledge work. Advanced degree holders now perform contract-based AI training alongside other platform workers.
What to watch: Uber's launch of 100,000 robotaxis in 2027. The AI training program develops algorithms for the deployment of autonomous vehicles.
[Analysis] Bloomberg covers Uber's AI infrastructure play and robotaxi timeline. Published 28 October 2025.
The Digital Tasks expansion follows Uber's January 2025 data-sharing deal with Nvidia and the September pilot launch in India, positioning the company as both a fleet operator and an AI training data provider.
Khosrowshahi told investors on the Q3 earnings call, "Another way of looking at our platform is that we're a platform for work. Besides transportation, we can empower other kinds of work as well."
Teach the robot to do your job.
Sponsor Break
Before we jump into today’s brew, here are some words from today’s sponsor…
Shoppers are adding to cart for the holidays
Over the next year, Roku predicts that 100% of the streaming audience will see ads. For growth marketers in 2026, CTV will remain an important “safe space” as AI creates widespread disruption in the search and social channels. Plus, easier access to self-serve CTV ad buying tools and targeting options will lead to a surge in locally-targeted streaming campaigns.
Read our guide to find out why growth marketers should make sure CTV is part of their 2026 media mix.
Here’s Your Brew
Uber's new AI training program reveals an uncomfortable economic shift.
On the November 5 earnings call, Khosrowshahi announced that Digital Tasks now hires PhDs for $50-$ 100 per hour to train AI models.
PhDs in physics earn up to $100/hour training algorithms. Drivers currently earn an average of $15-25 per hour.
The same platform now offers both.
Oxford researchers found that AI gig workers on major platforms spend 26.8% of their time on unpaid tasks, including job hunting, unpaid tests, and applications.
This results in an average effective wage of $2.15/hour.
Uber positions AI training as "alternative income" while developing autonomous technology.
The company books revenue from both driver trips and AI training labor.
Big Tech and automakers need human-labeled data at scale.
Meta paid $15 billion for a 49% stake in Scale AI in June 2025.
But these companies structure the work as gig contracts without benefits, job security, or wage guarantees.
Knowledge workers with advanced degrees now compete for contract work with arbitrary deactivation and algorithmic pay determination.
Universities produced more PhDs than the academic and corporate job markets absorbed.
Platforms now hire this surplus labor at gig rates.
Advanced degrees once provided job market insulation. Now they qualify you for the gig economy.
Two Sides, One Mug
Image: AlgorithmWatch
Pro: AI training gigs offer flexible, high-skilled work that pays better than most freelance options and lets PhDs monetize expertise without corporate employment structures.
Con: This extends gig labor economics to knowledge workers, reduces professional employment standards, and demonstrates that even advanced degrees no longer guarantee stable employment.
Our read: Uber develops AI automation while offering gig work to knowledge workers. The company generates revenue from both driver labor and AI training labor while building technology that reduces driver demand. PhDs train algorithms at gig rates while the platform transitions toward autonomous vehicles.
Receipt of the Day
Documents how six of seven major US gig platforms use opaque algorithms to assign jobs and set wages after work is completed—workers don't know pay until they finish.
That's not flexibility; it's wage roulette on a massive scale.
Uber's PhD programme runs on the same rails.
Spit Take
AI gig workers earn $2.15/hour after unpaid tasks. — Oxford Internet Institute, 2023
Your Coffee Break Links (and water cooler chatter)
AlgorithmWatch: The AI Revolution's gig worker exploitation
Details how PhD-level workers doing LLM training get zero pay for training, meetings, and breaks—just like delivery drivers. The vertical integration is complete. [Report]Higher Education Inquirer: Credential inflation and the global education crisis
Charts how bachelor's degrees now lead to "precarious gig work" and master's degrees have "diminishing returns"—the PhD just became the new minimum. [Analysis]OpenTools AI: Scale AI faces US Labor Department probe (March 2025)
The $30 billion data labelling giant (backed by Meta's billions) is under federal investigation for wage violations. Someone noticed the margins. [Report]
Join your team of caffeinated skeptics. ☕
Opinionated world news that respects your time.
One bold take, the best counter, and the receipt(s) that prove it (all in sixish minutes).
Mugshot Poll 📊
If Uber offered you $75/hour to train AI in your field, would you take it?
Before we wrap up today…
Does crypto/Web3 intrigue you?
Is worrying about losing money or getting scammed stopping you from investing?
This course is for you!
Click to share (2 referrals get you free access to your very own crypto mastery email course).
Everything you need to unlock crypto in 5 days (for beginners).
You can read yesterday’s newsletter on the new AI museum in LA here.
For the love of coffee, see you tomorrow!
Enjoy your Wednesday, keep it caffeinated.
How did we do?
Thanks for reading!
Are you subscribing?
Be sure to get your daily curse and coffee fix by hitting the daily knowledge button below.