全球最年轻的白手起家亿万富翁：辍学创业，打造AI训练帝国

Core Insights - Mercor, co-founded by Brendan Furdy, has evolved from a simple platform connecting businesses with overseas tech engineers to a company valued at $10 billion, making its founders some of the youngest self-made billionaires globally [4][5] - The company aims to create a marketplace where humans help train AI systems, focusing on teaching AI skills that require human judgment and nuance [3][4] Business Model - Initially, Mercor connected businesses with engineers, taking a 30% commission from the fees paid to engineers [3] - The platform now allows companies to post thousands of micro-tasks, enabling human evaluators to assess AI model performance in real-world professional scenarios [5][7] Growth and Revenue - Within nine months, Mercor achieved an annual revenue of $1 million, and its revenue growth is among the fastest in business history [3][9] - The company is positioned at the intersection of two major trends: the mainstreaming of AI and the rise of flexible project-based work [7][8] APEX System - Mercor's proprietary benchmark, APEX (AI Productivity Index), evaluates AI performance based on 200 tasks extracted from the workflows of professionals like bankers and lawyers [6] - APEX is designed to reflect the realities of high-risk professional work, with input from a heavyweight advisory team [6] Future Outlook - The company believes it can automate two-thirds of knowledge work, potentially freeing humans to tackle more complex challenges [7] - Furdy emphasizes the need to consider what higher-value tasks humans will engage in as AI takes over repetitive jobs [9]