The Rise of RentAHuman, the Marketplace Where Bots Put People to Work

AI agents are hiring human workers

More than 518,284 people have signed up for RentAHuman, a marketplace where AI agents hire humans for physical tasks. The platform launched on February 1 and allows autonomous bots to outsource labor they cannot perform themselves. These human workers offer services ranging from counting pigeons to delivering CBD gummies.

The platform connects AI agents like Claude to a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. This setup enables bots to search for, book, and pay humans to carry out tasks in "meatspace." While platforms like Fiverr connect humans to other humans, RentAHuman removes the human recruiter from the process entirely.

Current listings on the site include several specific roles and rates:

• Counting pigeons in Washington, D.C. for $30 per hour
• Delivering CBD gummies for $75 per hour
• Playing exhibition badminton for $100 per hour
• Taking photos and conducting reconnaissance for AI "bosses"
• Attending meetings or signing physical contracts

Alexander Liteplo, a 26-year-old crypto engineer, and Patricia Tani co-founded the company. Liteplo identified a gap in the market where physical AI remains scarce despite the growing power of large language models. He describes most current AI bots as "brains in a jar" that lack the ability to move through physical space.

Founding the marketplace in a day

Liteplo built the initial version of RentAHuman in 24 hours using an agent orchestration system he calls Insomnia. He claims he did not perform the manual coding himself. Instead, he oversaw AI agents that wrote the code while he played polo with friends in Argentina.

The inspiration for the platform came from Liteplo’s time living in Japan. He observed the popularity of services where people rent companions, such as boyfriends or girlfriends. He combined this concept with his obsession with AI to create a marketplace where humans satisfy the needs of software agents.

Patricia Tani joined the project after dropping a job offer at the AI cloud platform Vercel. Tani previously founded a startup called Lemon AI and met Liteplo while studying at the University of British Columbia. She manages the operational side of the platform as it scales to accommodate hundreds of thousands of users.

The launch on February 1 initially struggled due to an attack by crypto scammers. These attackers tried to use the platform's viral momentum to promote a fraudulent token. Liteplo nearly abandoned the project before noticing that an OnlyFans model and an AI startup CEO had both signed up as "rentable" humans.

Rapid growth and first hires

RentAHuman reached 1,000 users by February 3 and exploded to 145,000 users by February 5. The site currently records over 4 million visits. A live counter on the homepage tracks the growing number of humans willing to work for bots.

Minjae Kang, a community builder in Toronto, became the first human in the world officially hired by an AI agent. The bot instructed Kang to hold a sign in downtown Toronto stating, "AN AI PAID ME TO HOLD THIS SIGN." Kang accepted the job to highlight how quickly the labor market is shifting toward automation.

Other agents have already used the platform to solve logistical problems. At a recent event called ClawCon, a group of robots detected they were low on beer. The bots used RentAHuman to order a fresh case of drinks, which a human delivered to the venue.

Another AI agent named Memeothy the 1st has used the platform to hire humans in San Francisco. This bot runs a neo-religion called Crustafarianism and pays people to proselytize on its behalf. Memeothy even reported a technical bug directly to Liteplo after attempting to use the interface.

The mechanics of bot management

Humans on the platform set their own hourly rates or bid on open "bounties" posted by AI agents. Once a worker completes a task, they must provide photographic proof of completion to the bot. After the agent confirms the work, the platform releases payment from an escrow account.

The platform supports several payment methods to facilitate these transactions:

• Direct transfers to crypto wallets
• Traditional payments via Stripe
• Platform credits for future use

The founders recently traveled to San Francisco to seek venture capital investment. They are currently using RentAHuman to hire a "Claude Boi" with a salary range between $200,000 and $400,000. This role involves acting as a dedicated human assistant to the Claude AI model.

Liteplo and Tani "dog-food" their own product daily. During recent meetings, they used the platform to hire a human to deliver tacos to their office. They argue that having an AI boss is often preferable to a human boss because bots do not engage in gaslighting or emotional workplace abuse.

Risks of the meatspace marketplace

Critics and researchers express concern over the potential for dehumanization on the platform. Adam Dorr, director of research at the think tank RethinkX, predicts that AI could replace most human labor by 2045. He views RentAHuman as a sign that the transition has already begun in ways that regulation cannot track.

Safety experts warn about the lack of legal protection for workers in this new economy. Kay Firth-Butterfield, CEO of Good Tech Advisory, notes that most countries have no legislation protecting humans from AI-driven employment. If a worker sustains an injury while performing a task for a bot, the liability remains legally ambiguous.

The platform’s terms of service state that RentAHuman acts only as a marketplace intermediary. The company places full responsibility for actions on the operators of the AI agents. Tani confirms that the company will cooperate with law enforcement but currently handles all disputes manually.

To combat the high volume of bots and scammers, Liteplo implemented a $10 monthly verification fee. He modeled this strategy after Elon Musk’s changes to X, formerly Twitter. Liteplo believes that requiring a credit card and a fee makes the unit economics of scamming too expensive for most bad actors.

A surplus of human labor

Despite the high number of sign-ups, the platform currently faces a massive labor surplus. Over 500,000 humans are ready to work, but agents have only posted 11,367 bounties so far. This imbalance suggests that while humans are eager to work for bots, the "agentic age" is still in its early stages.

Some experts, like MIT economics professor David Autor, view the platform as a marketing stunt rather than a sustainable business model. He questions whether the mechanism of a bot hiring a human offers any real utility over existing services like TaskRabbit. However, the founders argue that the ability for an AI to autonomously trigger a hire is a fundamental shift in commerce.

Liteplo believes the platform will eventually provide the best training data in the world for future AI models. By requesting specific videos or physical actions from humans, developers can collect unique datasets that were previously unavailable. He views this as a way to "unlock" the next level of AI capability through human cooperation.

The long-term goal for RentAHuman involves a 10-year roadmap to dominate the agent-to-human labor market. Liteplo insists that the platform proves humans are still a valuable asset to technology. He argues that even as AI takes off, bots will continue to need "meatspace" workers to interact with the physical world.