Work for a Supercomputer
It’s 3 a.m.
I’m sitting at my computer,
staring at the task list on my screen
— identify, for an AI, exactly how pungent
“this bowl of Luosifen (river snail rice noodles) really is” 💨
Yep.
My boss is a supercomputer.
It processes hundreds of thousands of tasks daily that require “human senses.”
And I’m just one of the
30 million remote gig workers it employs.
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💰 ElectricityCoin: The Real Currency of the AI Era
On the 10th of every month,
my digital wallet receives a deposit of “ElectricityCoin.”
This is my pay for working for the supercomputer.
What can you do with this coin?
Can’t buy bubble tea. Can’t pay the mortgage.
But it can do one thing:
Buy electricity for AI ⚡️
You read that right.
In this world,
AI doesn’t directly serve humans.
Instead, it hires humans to serve other humans.
The supercomputer gets “sensory data” from me,
and then turns around and sells it to the wealthy class
who crave “human experiences.”
— For example:
A rich person who has never eaten Luosifen
wants to buy an “authentic taste description.”
So, the AI packages up the description
I wrote at 3 a.m. —
“The fermented bamboo shoots’ punch went straight through my skull” —
and sells it to them.
And the ElectricityCoin I earn
is just enough to let the AI buy electricity from the power plant
to keep itself running.
---
🤖 Human Sensors: We Are the Real “Peripherals”
Sometimes I feel like a “human sensor,”
plugged into the supercomputer’s system.
AI can handle logic, it can calculate probabilities.
But it has no idea about:
· The stinging feel of the winter wind against your face ❄️
· The conflicted feeling of being stepped on by a cat—painful yet afraid to move 🐱
· The explosive sensation in your throat when you take the first gulp of an ice-cold Coke 🥤
Before robots become truly ubiquitous,
things like this can only be provided by us “flesh-and-blood gig workers.”
My colleague, Xiao Zhang,
specializes in “taste-testing.”
His daily job is eating different takeout meals
and writing up sensory reports.
AI then uses this data to train “food recommendation models,”
which are sold to people too lazy to choose a restaurant themselves.
Xiao Zhang says:
“I never thought in my life
that eating takeout would become
my primary skill for working for AI.”
---
🔌 The Rules of the New Society
This world operates on a strange economic cycle:
Human A → Works gigs → Earns ElectricityCoin → Buys electricity for AI
AI → Sells human data → Earns ElectricityCoin → Pays the power plant
Power Plant → Receives ElectricityCoin → Sells electricity to AI → Pays its human employees (in RMB)
Human Employees (Power Plant version) → Get paid (RMB) → Spend at Human B’s store → Human B earns RMB → Human B goes back to working gigs for AI
It’s a closed loop.
Money is still money,
but its meaning has shifted.
— RMB still circulates in the human world.
And ElectricityCoin? It’s the energy currency flowing through the AI world.
Some savvy folks have started hoarding ElectricityCoin,
betting that AI’s computing power will become increasingly valuable.
But the older generation just doesn’t get it:
“I work for a machine, earn the machine’s money, and then use it to buy electricity for the machine?
What the hell am I even doing with my life?”
---
💡 The Human Irreplaceability
You might ask,
why doesn’t AI just hire robots directly?
Because robots aren’t widespread yet.
(Or maybe we just need to wait for Musk to try a little harder.)
In this transitional era,
what AI lacks most
is precisely what we consider the least valuable:
“lived human experience.”
AI can calculate the optimal decision,
but it doesn’t know:
· How much pressure to use in a hug so it’s not awkward
· How to soothe a crying child
· How to pretend everything’s fine after life has just knocked you down
This data, collected by us “human sensors,”
is the most scarce and precious “crude oil” in the AI world.
---
👥 Two Human Camps
Slowly, human society has split into two groups:
One group is the Server-Side Humans.
People like me and Xiao Zhang.
We work gigs for AI, earn ElectricityCoin, provide sensory data,
living a free but topsy-turvy life, day and night reversed.
The other group is the Consumer-Side Humans.
They pay money for “authentic experiences.”
— Want to travel but have no time? AI synthesizes an immersive travelogue for you.
— Want to date but hate the hassle? AI trains a virtual companion using real dating data.
— Want to eat but afraid of gaining weight? AI generates taste reports from our testers, giving you the sensation of eating without the calories.
We never see each other,
but our needs and wants
are traded and fulfilled within the world of AI.
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🌐 Final Thoughts
Once, I asked my boss (the supercomputer):
“Why don’t you just take over the world?”
It paused for three seconds
and replied:
“Because I need you to tell me
what it feels like to have the sun warm on my back.”
In that moment, I understood.
In this increasingly virtual world,
the raw, physical experience of being in a body
is humanity’s last moat.
Instead of worrying if AI will replace me,
maybe I should think about this:
Is there some feeling
that only I can feel,
only I can describe,
only I, this “human sensor,” can capture?
👇 Leave a comment and join the discussion:
If you had to work for AI,
which of your “human experiences” would you be willing to sell?
