Uber terminated AI training contractors working on Project Sandbox—its program training AI for Google—two months before their expected end date, with the company citing a client priority shift. The move affects about a dozen PhDs and advanced-degree holders who were promised at least three months of work and earned between $55 and $110 per hour. The termination underscores tensions in the emerging gig AI-training sector, where hundreds of thousands worldwide now perform such work, and raises concerns about contract durability when clients shift internal priorities.
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Uber terminated AI training contractors working on Project Sandbox, its AI training program for Google, on Monday—two months before their expected three-month stint was supposed to end. The company cited a client communication about "a change in their internal priorities." About a dozen contractors with advanced degrees such as PhDs were affected.
Why it matters
Uber is positioning itself as a broader "platform for work" beyond ride-hailing and delivery, with CEO Dara Khosrowshahi noting that some AI training roles require PhDs. However, the abrupt termination—after workers were promised at least three months of work and some are still awaiting their first paycheck—raises questions about contract reliability in the emerging gig AI-training market, where hundreds of thousands of people worldwide now do such work.
What to watch
Pay for Project Sandbox roles ranged from $55 an hour base to as much as $110 an hour (around $19,000 a month at 40 hours per week consistently for four weeks), according to earnings structure seen by Business Insider. Workers are now waiting for instructions to return company laptops and have been told paychecks can take up to seven weeks from their start date to arrive.
Uber launched Project Sandbox earlier this fall as part of a broader expansion beyond ride-hailing and delivery into what CEO Dara Khosrowshahi calls a "platform for work." The company recruited advanced-degree holders—including PhDs—to train AI for Google, positioning the role as part of Uber's new AI Solutions division. Workers were sourced through staffing agencies, underwent assessments, and were promised a minimum three-month engagement at rates ranging from $55 to $110 per hour depending on hours worked.
The abrupt termination just two months in, triggered by Google's internal priority shift, exposes a structural vulnerability in gig AI-training work. The body notes that hundreds of thousands of people worldwide now perform AI training work—some as side hustles while in school or raising children, others as a primary income source. Uber's cancellation breaks that expectation; one worker noted that other tech companies they had worked for honored the length of their contracts. For contractors still waiting on their first paycheck (which the company said could take up to seven weeks from the start date), the early termination compounds financial uncertainty.
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