Amazon to shut down Mechanical Turk platform in September 2026

Amazon has announced it will permanently close its crowdsourced microtask marketplace, Mechanical Turk, on September 30, 2026. The decision follows an internal assessment of the company’s programs and services.

Launched in 2005, the platform was designed to connect businesses with workers to complete ‘Human Intelligence Tasks’—such as data labeling, audio transcription, and surveys—that were historically difficult for computers to perform. Jeff Bezos once referred to the service as ‘artificial artificial intelligence.’

While Amazon has not explicitly stated that artificial intelligence caused the closure, the platform has faced increasing competition from specialized data-labeling companies like Scale AI, Mercor, and Prolific. Amazon stopped accepting new customers for the service in July 2026, though existing customers were permitted to continue using the platform until the final shutdown date.