Some contractors who worked on OpenAI projects say Handshake AI is withholding thousands of dollars in pay
Workers contracted through Handshake AI to build projects for OpenAI are claiming they've been left in financial limbo, with the intermediary firm allegedly withholding thousands of dollars in completed work—raising questions about how even the world's most prominent AI companies manage the precarious gig economy workforce powering their development. The dispute highlights a growing vulnerability in Silicon Valley's outsourcing apparatus: as demand for AI talent explodes, the contractors caught between big tech companies and smaller staffing firms often have little recourse when payment disputes arise. For OpenAI and similar firms already under scrutiny over labor practices and training data sourcing, the allegations suggest their reliance on contractor networks may be creating ethical blind spots far from public