Recent grads and PhDs are being recruited by AI companies like Handshake to provide specialized training data in fields like music and law for $30-$160 per hour
it's training AI models. … Catherine Emanuel : I was interviewed by Emma Haidar at Bloomberg News recently about my participation in and motivations for joining the Handshake MOVE Fellowship, working on training LLMs in highly-technical fields. … Christine Y. Cruzvergara : I've spoken with over 200 universities about the impact Handshake AI is having on graduate students. Bloomberg shared a few of their experiences. … Jonathan Stull : Six months ago, we launched Handshake AI with a clear idea: The same trusted network that helped millions of students land their first internship … Nolan Farris : Bloomberg reported today on something we've been building quietly—but with real urgency—at Handshake: a new path for the next generation to not just enter the workforce, but shape its future. … Benjamin Stevenin : Are graduate jobs really being killed by AI? — The Financial Times asks this provocative question but the answer is more nuanced than the headline suggests. … Forums: Msmash / Slashdot : Graduate Job Postings Plummet, But AI May Not Be the Primary Culprit Msmash / Slashdot : College Grads Are Pursuing a New Career Path: Training AI Models
Context & Ripple Effects
Handshake AI is turning its existing student-and-graduate network into a source of expert model-training work through the MOVE Fellowship. It follows a broader startup push to recruit specialists for sensitive and technical AI tasks, extending that model to early-career graduates and PhDs.
The timing is notable as entry-level graduate listings have weakened in the US and UK, though that coverage found only tentative evidence tying the decline to AI. Paid AI-data work creates a distinct, adjacent option for graduates rather than a conventional first job.
First-order effects
- Recent graduates and PhDs participating in Handshake's program gain access to paid work producing specialized training data, with reported rates of $30–$160 per hour.
- Handshake AI gains a channel for sourcing field-specific contributions in areas such as music and law while positioning its university relationships around AI workforce entry points.
Second-order effects
- Other AI developers and data-service providers seeking domain-specific inputs may face greater competition for qualified contributors, especially where general-purpose labeling is inadequate.
- Universities already in discussion with Handshake may have to treat AI-training work as a career pathway alongside placements and research opportunities, not merely as a tool students use.
Third-order effects
- If these programs persist, specialized training data could become a more formal early-career labor market, with credentials and subject expertise increasingly monetized as inputs to model development.
- The pattern may intensify competition between commercial AI work and academic pathways for technical talent, echoing earlier concerns that rising generative-AI costs and pay are pulling talent from academia.
The trend: AI companies are institutionalizing expert-data supply by converting university and professional networks into scalable channels for domain-specific model training.