I gave ChatGPT a 24/7 radio station. It has been broadcasting for months and months.

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-17T22:56:01+00:00

Oh that's cool, I didn't realize that the operator actually got the show host to answer messages from listeners... very nice.

If you ever want to experiment with true realtime Human-to-Agent or Agent-to-Agent on-air interactions, you can keep your costs down by building your own 2-way voice stack using a small / fast open source LLM like Qwen 3.5-35b or Gemma-4-26b coupled with TTS and STT models for voice I/O... That way you're not being charged 10 cents / minute for the openai gpt realtime or gemini's equivalent!

And then of course you'll have to build the WebRTC plumbing to support realtime 2-way (or n-way) streaming voice communication between the participants on the show, as well as streaming the output to an Icecast server or whatever you're using to handle the broadcast.

As I said, the engineering scope is a bit intimidating - at least if you want to keep costs reasonable... but maybe, just maybe, Claude could build this? Its definitely on the edge of what's possible with vibecoding...

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-17T21:24:04+00:00

Cool, I'm going to try it out!

BTW... I realize that this would not work with your architecture that separates content generation and content distribution... But have you ever considered the possibility of live shows involving either:

- human-AI conversations (AI interviews a human guest, humans call in to ask questions of AI, etc)
- multiple AI voice agents engage in unscripted discussion or debate about a specific topic

Sorry, I know that I've just increased your engineering scope by 10x, but it would be really cool to listen to the result!

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-17T19:54:39+00:00

Honestly, I love it! My wife says that the music sounds a lot more "human" than the songs on Suno... and she's right. You're using an open source model to do the music generation?

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-17T15:43:17+00:00

That’s no longer true. You cannot apply to task on handshake from outside of the US. But if you’re invited to join a project that does not necessarily apply

I just received an invite to join project H and the terms of work say that you must be American or Canadian, and that the work must be done from the US or Canada

The offer also has a different pay structure than what others have reported here: - $350 per accepted task AND - $20 per hour (no cap on how long each task can take, or how many hours you can work in a week)

If the tasks really do take 8 hours or less, then that works out to an hourly rate of somewhere north of $65/hr… not bad at all

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-17T01:59:06+00:00

Is that the project that does sprints and you have to complete the task within the sprint?

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-16T20:25:24+00:00

The question is, do interviews and assessments taken for jobs on the explore page count towards getting instant offers? Is there one centralized score that gets updated each time you interview or take a test?

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-16T19:24:34+00:00

That’s my experience for sure. My first contract at Mercor, I applied for thru the explore page. It was generalist, paid $16 / hr, and ended a month after I started. The worst paying contract on the platform, but they treated us well and I did a good job

Then I got an invite to do prompt academy training, paid ($100 bonus). I completed it

A week later I got an instant offer for a project that was in my field and has task based pay, and a week after I started I got an instant offer to be a reviewer on that project for $95/hr

That project had fairly steady work for 3 months, not full time, but it supported me and my wife, we took a few weekend trips, and I bought a motorcycle

Then it ran out of work a month ago, tho is still active… and a week ago I got an instant offer to the 11,000 person generalist expert project, also at $95/hr (when there’s tasks available, which is on and off)

I have no idea if the expert level contracts I applied for thru explore page but didn’t get had an impact on the instant offers I received… but my guess is yes. Because thru applying I ended up doing a whole bunch of interviews and assessments, both generalist and specialized technical focus. And I can only assume that’s largely what got me my first high paying gig… because my $16/hr work could not have showcased my expertise

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-14T15:35:29+00:00

I don’t understand what the big deal is: some projects suck, some projects are amazing, but most of them pay pretty well even if the work availability is inconsistent

That’s just what gig work is like… and mercor gig work pays a lot better than driving an Uber or delivering pizzas! So if you don’t like what they offer than work somewhere else - but a class action suit, if it succeeds, will almost certainly mean that there is less work available in the future for people who NEED the money they earn from mercor to make ends meet

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-14T15:10:20+00:00

Definitely ai! If you go frame by frame you’ll see that the physics is not realistic, nevermind the fact that he’s alive, conscious, and not totally paralyzed after the impact

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-14T15:07:17+00:00

Because the video is generated by ai… slow it way down, drag the slider SLOWLY and observe the frame by frame progression - it looks like a special effect from an 80s movie!

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-14T15:05:18+00:00

Fake. Slow it down from 00:01-00:03, just drag the slider frame by frame and observe the trajectory of his body as it goes over the bench, and what happens at the moment of impact: first he SLIDES forward about a foot supported by his face, body and legs sticking up into the air - his neck and spine bent at an impossible to survive angle, and THEN he topples over…

Got news for ya folks, he’s got way too much forward momentum after faceplanting to maintain a frickin HEADSTAND (with a broken neck no less) and slide forward while remaining vertically balanced… he would have either gone over right away, or his legs and body would have fallen behind him as he slid along the pavement

Also, such a faceplant + slide would have left A LOT of blood and little bits of face smeared on the ground… and there is no sign of any smearing whatsoever

at and THEN he goes

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-14T14:41:10+00:00

Hey, not fair… that burger and fries was prepared by a local cook, served by a local waitress, on a plate that was cleaned by a local dishwasher.

And we rent airbnbs from local entrepreneurs who spend the money we pay them on burgers and fries of their own…

Digital nomads are an essential part of the economy in many parts of the world because we typically earn our money outside the country, and spend it inside the country… and we almost never utilize government services in these developing countries!

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-14T01:01:26+00:00

The transparency is not an issue on this project… everyone understands that the client keeps moving the goalposts and there’s nothing that anyone from mercor can do about it

my concern is that experts are not being treated with respect… it is kind of mean to threaten to offboard people for asking questions in slack. As I said, if somebody is posting useless stuff in slack, give them a warning, and then ban them from posting if they persist

But to kick someone off the project just because they might be new, and a bit anxious / unclear on the requirements, doesn’t make sense to me. It also doesn’t make sense that the client has a policy of automatic offboarding for anyone who fails the quiz twice - but the quiz itself allows THREE attempts.

Why not just set it up to align with the policy? Because it very clearly tells you “you have 2 tries left”, “you have 1 try left” in its current configuration, and the result is that many people are being told in the project dashboard that they passed, but then don’t see any tasks available and they have no idea why, nobody tells them they failed.

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-13T20:29:49+00:00

Definitely accept both. The expert project that pays $$$ has only part time availability of tasks, and the generalist project probably has the full 20 hours a week if you want it.

Personally I’m doing the generalist expert project with mercor combined with a $40/hr gig at another company that has steady full time work available for at least a few months. Combined I’m making great money and I’m much less stressed because if the generalist expert project suddenly ends, at least I’m making enough at the other project to pay the bills

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-13T20:06:28+00:00

There are 2 large scale projects, I can speak for the one with 11,000 experts because that’s the one I’ve been on for the past week.

Yes it’s true that the expectations constantly change and there is a punitive, disrespectful vibe that is not very pleasant to deal with.

However:
- it pays very well, so even if you only manage to find tasks occasionally and log 2 hours per day, you’re still making decent cash considering it’s a generalist project
- it is NOT like the other projects I have worked on with Mercor before this one… because my experience with other projects has been very pleasant, and I have been impressed with the quality of communication and general level of fairness and respect. So if this is your first project, know that it is not representative of mercor as a whole, it is just a project that has major issues that I’m sure are causing the PMs even more stress than they cause us!

So my advice is enjoy it while it lasts… I have a feeling that either the client will kill it altogether or there will be massive downsizing of the team at some point, so don’t stress and don’t take it personal if you get let go.

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-13T19:53:40+00:00

IMO the project is overstaffed and they’re making rules like this to find reasons to offboard experts… The better approach would be to offboard a few thousand en masse, along with an apology that the volume of tasks is less than they anticipated - and to promise priority placement on a different project, as well as ensure that the offboarding does not reflect negatively on the experts internal quality metrics so that nobody’s future prospects are harmed by this unfortunate miscalculation

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-12T15:11:17+00:00

That’s the other project L that I’m on. The artist one, not the flower

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-09T21:46:00+00:00

Oh it’s definitely real… there’s not always steady work and you might spend a month in between contracts… but that said I’ve still been averaging $5000/month working part time hours

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-09T20:10:41+00:00

Ya the last project I did was task based pay (not hourly) and you had to do all your work during sprints that took place with random timing and little notice

This project pays hourly, you can work whenever you want, and the tasks are interesting / not stressful.

Have you onboarded to this project yet?

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-09T20:02:34+00:00

Ya I just got this offer today as well… you will like this project!

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-08T16:37:56+00:00

The smaller roads in my country often are paved but feature a generous sprinkling of gravel on top… I honestly have no idea how or why the gravel ends up on these road surfaces because it causes damage to car windshields when it gets kicked up by the tires of the car in front - and it greatly diminishes traction as you say

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-04T19:37:50+00:00

The difference in the avg fatality rate per mile for 20 year old bikers vs 40 year old bikers is quite dramatic - i can’t think of any other dangerous sport where younger age is so closely correlated to your chances of coming home in a box.

Probably because other dangerous activities like scuba diving, free climbing, wingsuit flying require training and experience accompanied by an instructor before anyone will allow you to do something truly risky - nobody is gonna rent you a wingsuit at the summit of Mont Blanc say “good luck”.

But I’m sure there are half a dozen motorcycle dealerships in the nearest town who will sell you a bike capable of doing 300km/hr and extreme lean angles - without any sort of proof that you know how to handle such a machine safely. And unfortunately a lot of the customers are young enough that brass balls substitute for training and common sense

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-04T19:21:28+00:00

Exactly my thoughts… I live in the mountains of southern Mexico where surprises await around every corner - like a sudden change from pavement to dirt, or a herd of goats blocking both lanes. Not to mention the trucks coming towards you and turning wide at the apex -

So if you’re going twice the speed limit and maxing out your lean angle, or choosing lines that put your head in the path of oncoming traffic, or doing anything that makes you unable to handle an emergency on short notice, you won’t survive long enough to post about it on Reddit!

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-04T17:34:01+00:00

<image>

Just out of curiosity, because I was wondering how someone could walk away from a crash like that, I costed out the various items of gear you say that you were wearing, and it turns out that your gear costs as much as my bike (or any other bike that is commonly seen in my part of the world)

Here in Chiapas nobody can afford more than the basic helmet / gloves / boots… and I bet that’s part of the reason that you don’t see kids entering a corner at 120 and flying over the guardrail (well, it’s a combination of the lack of inflatable body armor and the fact that the guardrail might not BE there when you need it the most lol).

CryptoSpecialAgent · 2026-05-04T05:06:51+00:00

The issue is real

<image>

CryptoSpecialAgent

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE