New Delhi, Dec. 21 -- A 34-year-old Indian man based in the UK is earning $200 (around Rs.18,000) an hour from a side gig training AI models. Utkarsh Amitabh had a packed schedule at the time of accepting the offer, but his "intellectual curiosity drew him in," CNBC reported.

In an interview with CNBC Make It, Utkarsh Amitabh said he was not seeking new opportunities when data-labelling startup micro1 reached out to him in January 2025. At that point, he was already juggling multiple roles - writing books, teaching at a university, leading the global mentorship platform Network Capital as its founder and CEO, and pursuing a PhD at the University of Oxford's Said Business School. He was, in addition, adjusting to life with a newborn at ho...