How Micro1 scales a global network of domain experts with Deel to power AI

micro1 is the AI platform for human intelligence. Founded in 2022 by CEO Ali Ansari, the company partners with leading AI labs to recruit, vet, and manage the domain experts who generate the training data powering frontier AI models. With tens of thousands of contractors in the field and new experts joining every single day, any friction in onboarding or payments would directly throttle the company’s ability to serve its AI lab clients.

“The only way frontier models are learning now is through net new human data. We need the best experts in the world, in every country, ready to work tomorrow. Deel is what makes that possible.” – Ali Ansari, CEO, micro1

micro1 has run on Deel since the company’s first day. Today, Deel powers every layer of their workforce.

• Contractors: Tens of thousands of independent contractors sign agreements and receive payments through Deel. With new experts onboarding every day across dozens of countries, Deel’s streamlined contractor setup ensures micro1 can match the pace of demand from AI labs without operational bottlenecks.
• EOR: micro1 uses Deel’s Employer of Record to employ its own team members outside the United States, unlocking compliant local employment in multiple countries without setting up entities.
• Payroll: micro1 runs Deel Payroll for its domestic team, consolidating contractor payments and domestic payroll under a single platform.

With payments and compliance handled, micro1 has been free to focus entirely on its mission: building the human data infrastructure for AGI. The partnership has also come full circle. micro1 recently helped Deel source and hire 1,000 qualified candidates through its own AI recruitment platform, a testament to the depth of the relationship between the two companies.

The AI training data market is projected to grow from $15 billion today to nearly $100 billion within two years. micro1 sits at the center of this wave. As its expert network scales into the tens of thousands, Deel remains the infrastructure powering a global workforce that is training the future of artificial intelligence.