Chinese Tech Giants Scale Up AI Training Labor to Match US Competitors
Source: Rest of World
ByteDance, Alibaba, and other Chinese platforms are now directly employing specialized AI trainers—software engineers, domain experts, and domain-specific professionals—rather than relying on crowdsourced labeling. The shift mirrors Mercor and similar Western platforms but reflects China's distinct labor market advantages and AI ambitions. Building proprietary, high-quality datasets requires sustained investment in skilled workers. Chinese firms can resource this at scale due to lower labor costs and tighter integration with government AI priorities. Data quality, not just quantity, has become the competitive advantage in large language models. The AI race now depends on which regions can sustain specialized human intelligence at the foundation layer.