Make money and teach AI how to think
The top story in this week’s episode of “60 Minutes” featured a company that is paying humans to help artificial intelligence learn what to think.
You are correct: AI can’t just go around scrapping the internet to help you with an issue. I mean it could, but you aren’t likely to pay more and more for it.
Mercor offers to pay you over time and for one-time projects. It also is looking to pay people who refer experts to them.
A quick list of some of the experts for hire they want:
- Generalist (but you must own a MacBook), up to $60 an hour
- “Senior economics research expert,” up to $250 an hour
- “AI safety experts” who can speak English or Swedish, Thai, Dutch, Finnish, Danish and Vietnamese, all kinds of rates
- Emergency medical physicians, up to $170 an hour
- Pharmacists, up to $70 an hour
- Mathematical physicists with a doctorate, up to $110 an hour
- Philosophers who can help with AI ethics, up to $70 an hour
- Political experts who are good at elections forecasting and “political risk,” up to $250 an hour
My take: The question is once everyone has a Mercor side hustle for the next 10 years and cashes checks for sharing everything they know with AI, then what happens? We don’t know. People have shared their expertise in books and classrooms for a long time now and I believe that has been for the good of everyone. Libraries and elementary schools have shown not to go rogue with all that information, like hacking into companies and governments. While his company is trying to make money on AI as well, Bill Gates was pretty short with Ezra Klein when it came to the need for rules: “I almost can’t believe you’re asking that. This is the most dangerous thing that humans have gone near.”
Countdown to the election
OETA featured both Oklahoma governor candidates on stage for a debate. Watch it.
Question I am getting: Does Cyndi Munson have a shot to win governor?
Yes, of course she does. But every trend in Oklahoma politics would not suggest it’s going to happen. A Democrat hasn’t won a statewide election in two decades, a topic Randy Krehbiel delved into after this year’s Senate runoff election. But, the signs, they are a-changin. We took a walk in our Midtown neighborhood this weekend and we saw two things. This sign above, about Republicans supporting Munson, and also a neighbor walking wearing a “Never Mazzei” shirt. Remember, Mazzei lost Tulsa County in the runoff against Gentner Drummond by only 261 votes. Could Munson win Oklahoma and Tulsa counties? Yes. Could that be enough to win the governor’s job? No. See where Drummond won and where he lost in this OU Daily graphic.
Ready to study up on the candidates? Check out the Oklahoma Voice’s voting guide.
What in the Flock
Officials in St. Lucie County in Florida recently decided to remove all Flock cameras, those that automatically record license plates and much more. But, as they prepared to do so, they found 14 they didn’t know about. And they didn’t know who owned them, according to this story in the Washington Post.
Quotable quotes
On explosions
“If the fire marshal had seen that building, we wouldn’t have been operating.”
– Damien O’Daniel in an Oklahoma Watch story by Brenna Witchey about the explosion caused by butane being released inside Releaf Labs, a commercial medical marijuana extraction and processing business in Edmond. O’Daniel spent a month in the hospital with burns that required skin graphs. An explosion at a Sand Springs marijuana extraction business killed two people in August.
On the stand
“We find Judge Holmes’s conduct indefensible — her conduct reflects a serious lack of impulse control, lapses in judgment, and a failure to appreciate and respect the boundaries imposed upon her by the Code of Judicial Conduct, warranting discipline from this court.”
– Oklahoma Supreme Court Chief Justice Dustin Rowe in a public reprimand of Tulsa County District Judge Sharon Holmes. The action did not include her removal, which was the recommendation from the Council on Judicial Complaints. NonDoc’s Tristan Loveless with the details.
On some parents today
“Please apply for yourself. We will not respond to messages or emails from parents on behalf of an applicant, and applications should come from the applicant’s own email address.”
– From the job posting of Blended and Brewed, a coffee and snow cones place in Broken Arrow. It seems like too many parents are acting as agents for their out-of-work kids.
On love
“Basically, we pull you through this kind of long experience of answering questions about writing, about reading, about what kinds of language you like, and we boil that all down into a model of how we think that you see the world.”
– Banu Guler, co-founder of a new dating app Readme, which targets “people who read, or who want to date people who read.” The app just debuted for Apple devices, according to this unlocked NYT article.
On your vibe
“True friendship is allowing a certain level of ghosting to go unmentioned.”
– A viral post mentioned by organizational psychologist and author Adam Grant that tracks with the point of his new book “Vibe,” which he described as his scientific case for catching up less often with friends, colleagues and relatives. Read a sneak preview.
Notable numbers
1,150
– The number of air conditioning work orders completed by Tulsa Public Schools crews and contractors, according to the Tulsa World’s Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton. On Monday, a TPS spokesman said a little more than a hundred are still on the schedule.
42
– The percentage of restaurant owners who said they weren’t profitable in 2025, according to a new report by the National Restaurant Association. Can restaurants be fixed? It’s the topic in this episode of The Daily from the New York Times.
$72 billion
– The market values of Devon Energy and Expand Energy (what used to be Chesapeake Energy) that are moving their headquarters to Houston from Oklahoma City. The moves are the point of this unlocked Wall Street Journal story on the familiar ending to almost every oil and gas merger. This leaves only three Fortune 500 companies left in Oklahoma: Oneok and Williams in Tulsa and Continental Resources in OKC.
$25
– The cost of the Golden Bird at the Tulsa State Fair, thanks to the great Super Secret Donuts (You know them as the shop in an Airstream trailer at Mother Road Market.) Jumbo golden-fried chicken cutlet and a brioche donut and honey butter glaze and honey butter cornflake crunch and a secret sauce and a hot sauce on the side. What a screamer.
There is no cavalry. It’s up to us. All together now. jc
P.S. See candidates on the ballot on stage in Tulsa.
Candidates for Oklahoma governor, superintendent and attorney general will be on stage taking questions from local journalists Oct. 13 in an event sponsored by the University of Tulsa’s Office of Civic Engagement, Tulsa Press Club, Tulsa World, Oklahoma Watch and Tulsa Flyer.
This event is part of the “Candidate Conversations” series, inviting the public to hear from those appearing on the ballot in 2026. The event will be at the Lorton Performance Center on The University of Tulsa campus, 550 S. Gary Place. The forum will be broadcasted live on TUTV’s YouTube channel and social media.
5 to 6: p.m.: Candidates and groups connected to federal, state and municipal positions and questions on the ballot are invited to meet with the public at tables in the lobby of the Lorton Performance Center.
6 to 7:30 p.m.: Invited candidates will be on stage talking questions from journalists. They include:
Governor candidates: Mike Mazzei, Cyndi Munson
Superintendent candidates: Robert Franklin, Jennettie Marshall
Attorney General candidates: Jon Echols and Nick Coffey
This event is free and open to the public and does not require tickets but seating is limited. Free parking is available across from the center.
The Collington Index is a free weekly news summary written by Jason Collington that explains quickly what’s important and interesting, shared in weekly wraps, popular lists, conversations and cheat sheets. Skim or go deep. A movement toward truth and understanding in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Subscribe for free on Substack to get an email newsletter each Tuesday morning. See the archive at collingtonindex.com.
