From $15 to $100 an Hour: Mo Zohourian's AI Journey

Arriving in Canada in 2023, Mo Zohourian turned to AI evaluation after months of unsuccessful job applications. His assignments, which range from $15 to $100 per hour, leverage his sales expertise and now fund a consulting business and a training platform.

Irregular Income, Reinvestment, and Weekly Flexibility

Mo Zohourian typically dedicates between 20 and 40 hours a week to AI evaluation, with downtime of one to two weeks, or even a month, between projects. He can start other assignments during these breaks. He notes that his businesses are profitable, but he is not currently drawing a salary, preferring to reinvest the profits for future expansion and live off his AI evaluation income. This arrangement also allows him to carve out time for his son, particularly for school runs and classes.

Increasingly Complex Tasks with Agentic AI

At the beginning of his journey, evaluation tasks involved writing a prompt, two responses, and a brief justification. With agentic AI and more powerful models, he describes assignments that are now different and more complex. He explains that the initial simplicity helped him progress as the requirements increased.

From Unsuccessful Prospecting to Higher-Paid Expert Status

After leaving Iran for Canada in 2023 and going through a series of interviews without landing a job, Mo Zohourian spotted a LinkedIn offer for $15 an hour to train AI, with no experience required. He started without telling his wife until he received his first payment. About three months after starting, he stopped applying for full-time positions. It was only after about a year in AI training that he was certain he wanted to pursue this path.

Pricing Progression: $15, $30, $35, then Assignments at $45 and $70

Starting at $15 an hour, he secured a project paying $30 an hour about three months later. In the company where he worked, successful internal evaluations opened the door to larger assignments; he validated projects in English literature, reasoning, and mathematics, which raised his rate to $35 an hour. Working for several companies afterward, he saw his pay vary by project, sometimes $45 an hour, sometimes $70, with no fixed base. He describes a freelance status with little leverage, where one must accept or decline offers.

Sales Expertise Opens Access to $100 an Hour and High-Stakes Projects

Expert positions marked the most significant pay increase and brought a steady workflow. These roles, initially limited to STEM fields like physics, chemistry, or programming, eventually included sales, an area where he was able to establish himself due to his history of quality assignments on the platforms. Today, he holds the position of sales management expert on high-stakes projects and reports having consistently secured assignments paying $100 an hour over the past ten months. He works as a contractor for companies specializing in AI training, and his rates have been validated.

Consulting for SMEs and Training Platform Launched in June

Mo Zohourian's current priority is his AI consulting firm, aimed at helping small businesses improve efficiency; his first client, a meal prep company, was secured during a meeting at a party the previous year. He founded Annotation Academy, where he teaches how to conduct AI evaluations, and says he signed his first paying client on the day of the launch in June. He also offers AI consulting. He observes strong demand for profiles capable of delivering with industry expertise. Despite his 15 years of experience in sales, he feels he has never experienced such rapid advancement as in AI training.