Amazon has officially announced that Mechanical Turk, its long-running crowdsourcing marketplace, will permanently close on September 30, 2026. The company posted a closure notice on the official Mechanical Turk website, confirming that the platform—which connected businesses and developers with a distributed human workforce for small digital tasks—will cease operations entirely.
What Was Mechanical Turk?
Mechanical Turk was a service that allowed requesters to post micro-tasks, such as data validation, content moderation, and tagging, which were then completed by remote workers known as "Turkers." Amazon referred to this system as "Artificial Artificial Intelligence" because it used human intelligence to perform tasks that computers could not yet handle reliably.
Why Is Amazon Closing the Service?
In the closure notice, Amazon explained that the decision follows a routine review of its offerings. The notice states: "We regularly evaluate our programs, tools, and services and make adjustments based on those assessments. Following an assessment…" The company did not provide further details about the specific factors that led to the shutdown, but the notice confirms that the marketplace will no longer operate after the announced date.
What Happens Next for Users?
With the closure set for September 30, 2026, both requesters and workers will need to transition to other platforms or methods for completing and outsourcing small digital tasks. Amazon has not yet indicated whether it will offer alternative services or migration support for Mechanical Turk users.
The announcement marks the end of an era for one of the earliest and most well-known crowdsourcing platforms, which had become a vital source of income for many remote workers around the world.
