AI Firms Aim to Leverage Improv Actors’ Skills for Emotion Training

If you have a knack for creativity, a talent for conveying genuine emotions, and can maintain a character’s voice throughout a scene, there’s an intriguing opportunity that might be calling your name.

But here’s the twist: you won’t be performing on a stage, in a film studio, or at a local theater. Instead, your skills would be utilized to train an AI model for a prominent player in the AI space, as highlighted in a recent job listing.

Handshake AI is among a select group of companies racing to provide specialized training data to AI labs, aiming to enhance the capabilities of their models. These AI systems are often described as “jagged,” excelling at complex tasks while struggling with simpler ones. To bridge these knowledge gaps, AI firms are seeking specialized data labeling, leading companies like Handshake, Mercor, and Scale AI to recruit professionals from diverse fields.

Last summer, Handshake saw a threefold increase in demand for training data, and by November, it had surpassed a $150 million run rate, striving to keep pace with the surge. The company boasts a network of tens of thousands of professionals across various white-collar sectors, including chemists, doctors, lawyers, and screenwriters. However, many of these experts express concern that their work could inadvertently hasten the obsolescence of their own careers.

Now, the call has extended to sketch comedians, improv actors, and others in the performance arts.

The job description invites actors, improvisers, and performers to participate in a paid, collaborative improv project with a leading AI company. Participants will be paired with fellow performers over video, given light prompts or scenarios to explore together.

The listing seeks individuals with backgrounds in acting, improv, sketch, or theater, emphasizing the need for those who can “test the limits of the world’s top LLMs’ understanding” by teaching models to recognize and replicate human tone and emotion. “Emotional awareness” is a key requirement, specifically the ability to authentically recognize, express, and shift between emotions. The role also calls for interactions that feel grounded, human, and enjoyable.

While Handshake has not commented on the listing, it remains unclear what the training data will ultimately be used for.

In recent years, AI companies have fully embraced “multimodal” models capable of generating images and videos, as well as engaging in voice interactions with realistic inflections. Following initial tests of ChatGPT’s voice mode, the company expanded this feature in 2024, introducing an Advanced version with multiple voice options. Other companies, like xAI and Anthropic, have also integrated voice features into their offerings.

The Handshake job listing further states that sessions will be “unscripted and open-ended,” allowing participants to improvise scenes, explore characters, and respond naturally, with ample creative freedom. The role offers part-time, flexible tasks that can easily fit around auditions, classes, or rehearsals, with an average pay of $74 per hour. However, reports suggest that starting pay can diminish quickly once participants are onboarded, and the promised flexibility may not hold up when competition for new tasks arises.

Discussions about the Handshake AI job listing have sparked considerable debate within the r/improv community on Reddit, with some labeling it as “dystopian.” One user remarked, “It’s clearly just an attempt to get people to train AI models to create AI-generated videos.” Another suggested, “I think they are trying to teach it human conversation, not how to be an improviser. My plan was to sabotage the inputs.” A third user humorously noted, “Now AI is coming for our lucrative improv comedy jobs.”

Conversely, one user predicted a resurgence of live comedy as audiences grow weary of online services, craving authentic, face-to-face entertainment. They suggested that improv teams could market themselves as offering “real, unpolished, laugh-out-loud comedy, NOT made by a computer.”