The Problem Worth Solving

In the age of modern AI, interesting engineering and research problems are everywhere. The challenge isn’t finding a problem to work on; it’s choosing the one that’s actually worth solving.

That shift in perspective is what led me to micro1. To me, no technical challenge feels as consequential as the one at the center of this company.

Here’s why.

The Human Intelligence Labor Market

We’re not just building systems or optimizing models. We’re operating at the point where AI meets the global labor market and where the nature of work itself is beginning to change.

Whenever a major technology arrives, it brings uncertainty with it. AI is no different. There’s a lot of discussion about automation, job loss, and the fear that machines will replace people. But history suggests that these transitions are rarely that simple.

When Uber first appeared, many people believed it would destroy the taxi industry. And in some ways, it did disrupt the old system. But it also created something much larger. Instead of a small, tightly controlled group of licensed drivers, millions of people suddenly had the opportunity to participate in ride-sharing on their own terms. The job didn’t disappear, but rather, it expanded and transformed.

I believe AI will follow a similar pattern.

Yes, some jobs will change or fade away, but entirely new kinds of work will emerge. One of the most important of these will revolve around something very human: distilling knowledge, judgment, and experience into forms that AI can learn from.

That future is already visible at micro1. Professionals in medicine, law, research, and countless other domains are already contributing their expertise to help train the next generation of models. What used to be an abstract research activity is becoming a new kind of global labor market, one built around human intelligence itself.

From Experts Today to Everyone Tomorrow

Right now, a lot of this work is centered around highly skilled experts, and that makes sense. If we want AI to handle complex, high-stakes tasks, it needs to learn from the people who already perform them at the highest level.

But this is just the beginning.

As AI becomes more integrated into everyday life and takes on various modalities, the scope of human contributions will expand. There will be a place for everyone to contribute their knowledge, skills, and lived experiences.

• A teacher’s classroom strategies
• A nurse’s bedside decision making
• A parent’s day-to-day problem solving

In that world, contributing to AI won’t be a rare or specialized activity. It will be a new form of work, open to people across the globe, much like ride-sharing opened up transportation work to millions.

And that’s the future I’m excited to help build.

In a time when interesting technical problems are everywhere, I chose micro1 because it offers something more than just another challenge. It offers a chance to work on a mission that sits at the center of one of the biggest economic and technological transitions of our time.

Not just building smarter models, but helping shape the human knowledge and experience that power them.