The Deep View: OpenAI skips data labelers for Goldman bankers

Posted on October 23, 2025 by michelleclarke2015

OpenAI skips data labelers for Goldman bankers
OpenAI is sidestepping the data annotation sector by hiring ex-Wall Street bankers to train its AI models. 
In a project known internally as Project Mercury, the company has employed more than 100 former analysts from JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, paying them $150 an hour to create prompts and financial models for transactions such as IPOs and corporate restructurings, Bloomberg reported. The move underscores the critical role that curating high-quality training datasets plays in improving AI model capabilities, marking a shift from relying on traditional data annotators to elite financial talent to instruct its models on how real financial workflows operate.
“OpenAI’s announcement is a recognition that nobody writes financial documents better than highly trained analysts at investment banks,” Raj Bakhru, co-founder of Blueflame AI, an AI platform for investment banking now part of Datasite, told The Deep View. 
That shift has the potential to shake up the $3.77 billion data labeling industry. Startups like Scale AI and Surge AI have built their businesses on providing expert-driven annotation services for specialized AI domains, including finance, healthcare and compliance.
Some AI experts say OpenAI’s approach signals a broader strategy: cut out the middlemen.
“Project Mercury, to me, clearly signals a shift toward vertical integration in data annotation,” Chris Sorensen, CEO of PhoneBurner, an AI-automation platform for sales calls, told TDV.  “Hiring a domain expert directly really helps reduce vendor risk.”
But not everyone sees it that way.
“While it’s relatively straightforward to hire domain experts, creating scalable, reliable technology to refine their work into the highest quality data possible is an important — and complex — part of the process,” Edwin Chen, founder and CEO of Surge AI, told TDV.  “As models become more sophisticated, frontier labs increasingly need partners who can deliver the expertise, technology, and infrastructure to provide the quality they need to advance.”
OpenAI hiring former bankers to create training data might sound like a flex, but it’s also a sign of how far it still has to go. As the pressure to monetize AI grows, the company is trying to prove its models can perform serious, industry-specific work on the job. Training them to develop financial models is a logical next step. However, paying $150 an hour for curated data highlights a deeper issue: building useful AI still requires a significant amount of manual effort. While Project Mercury may help OpenAI pitch itself to Wall Street clients, it also highlights the limitations of current models and the significant amount of hand-holding they still require to succeed.
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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