# AI Data Auction

> AI data auctions for clean, verified training data, plus the reference on how labs buy and sell data, who the providers are and what it costs.

An AI data auction is a competitive sale in which buyers bid, or sellers undercut, to set the price and terms for data used to train or evaluate AI models. Figures on this site are reported by the named source on the stated date.

## Core guides
- [Who buys AI training data?](https://aidata.auction/guides/who-buys-ai-training-data): Frontier labs, neolabs, enterprises, startups and governments buy AI training data. What each buys, how they pay and where deals are reported.
- [What is an AI data auction?](https://aidata.auction/guides/what-is-an-ai-data-auction): An AI data auction is a competitive sale that sets the price of AI training data. How the formats work, why they are rare, and where they could fit.
- [RLHF vs SFT: what is the difference?](https://aidata.auction/guides/rlhf-vs-sft): RLHF ranks model outputs; SFT imitates ideal answers. How the two post-training methods differ in data, cost and when labs use each.
- [How to sell data to AI companies](https://aidata.auction/guides/how-to-sell-data-to-ai-companies): Sell data to AI companies by proving rights, packaging a sample, choosing a channel and pricing the license. A seven-step process with pitfalls to avoid.
- [How to evaluate an AI data vendor](https://aidata.auction/guides/how-to-evaluate-an-ai-data-vendor): Evaluate an AI data vendor with ten checks: provenance, quality control, reviewer vetting, security, pricing clarity, pilot results and exit terms.
- [How to buy AI training data](https://aidata.auction/guides/how-to-buy-ai-training-data): Buy AI training data by defining the spec, choosing a provider type, running a pilot and enforcing acceptance tests. A step-by-step buyer's guide.
- [How AI training data is priced](https://aidata.auction/guides/how-ai-training-data-is-priced): AI training data is priced by hour, task, dataset license, subscription, revenue share or auction. What drives each price and how to compare quotes.
- [Designing an AI data pilot](https://aidata.auction/guides/designing-an-ai-data-pilot): Design an AI data pilot in five steps: fixed scope, shared rubric, blind scoring, held-out testing and a decision rule. Compare vendors on equal terms.
- [Data provenance for AI training](https://aidata.auction/guides/data-provenance-for-ai-training): Data provenance records where AI training data came from and what rights apply. What to document, how buyers check it and why it affects price.
- [AI training data licensing checklist](https://aidata.auction/guides/ai-training-data-licensing-checklist): A twelve-point checklist for AI training data licenses: rights, permitted uses, exclusivity, term, audit, indemnity and exit terms. Not legal advice.
- [AI data RFP template](https://aidata.auction/guides/ai-data-rfp-template): An AI data RFP template with the sections vendors need: scope, specification, acceptance tests, rights, security, pricing format and evaluation criteria.
- [AI data marketplace vs data broker vs data lab](https://aidata.auction/guides/ai-data-marketplace-vs-data-broker-vs-data-lab): How AI data marketplaces, data brokers and data labs differ in what they sell, how they price it and when to use each. With examples of each type.

## Providers
- [Scale AI](https://aidata.auction/providers/scale-ai): Expert data lab
- [Surge AI](https://aidata.auction/providers/surge-ai): Expert data lab
- [Mercor](https://aidata.auction/providers/mercor): Expert talent marketplace
- [Turing](https://aidata.auction/providers/turing): Expert data lab
- [Handshake AI](https://aidata.auction/providers/handshake-ai): Expert talent marketplace
- [micro1](https://aidata.auction/providers/micro1): Expert talent marketplace
- [Human Native AI](https://aidata.auction/providers/human-native-ai): Content licensing marketplace
- [Defined.ai](https://aidata.auction/providers/defined-ai): Data marketplace
- [Datarade](https://aidata.auction/providers/datarade): Data marketplace
- [AWS Data Exchange](https://aidata.auction/providers/aws-data-exchange): Cloud data exchange
- [Snowflake Marketplace](https://aidata.auction/providers/snowflake-marketplace): Cloud data exchange
- [Databricks Marketplace](https://aidata.auction/providers/databricks-marketplace): Cloud data exchange

## Data types
- [RLHF and preference data](https://aidata.auction/data-types/rlhf-preference-data)
- [Supervised fine-tuning data](https://aidata.auction/data-types/sft-data)
- [Expert demonstration data](https://aidata.auction/data-types/expert-demonstrations)
- [Reinforcement learning environments](https://aidata.auction/data-types/rl-environments)
- [Synthetic training data](https://aidata.auction/data-types/synthetic-data)
- [Code training data](https://aidata.auction/data-types/code-data)
- [Medical and clinical data](https://aidata.auction/data-types/medical-data)
- [Legal training data](https://aidata.auction/data-types/legal-data)
- [Video training data](https://aidata.auction/data-types/video-data)
- [Speech and audio data](https://aidata.auction/data-types/speech-audio-data)
- [Licensed text corpora](https://aidata.auction/data-types/text-corpora)
- [Multimodal training data](https://aidata.auction/data-types/multimodal-data)
- [Evaluation sets](https://aidata.auction/data-types/evaluation-sets)

## Auction mechanisms
- [English auction](https://aidata.auction/auction-mechanisms/english-auction)
- [Dutch auction](https://aidata.auction/auction-mechanisms/dutch-auction)
- [First-price sealed-bid auction](https://aidata.auction/auction-mechanisms/first-price-sealed-bid)
- [Vickrey auction](https://aidata.auction/auction-mechanisms/vickrey-auction)
- [Reverse auction](https://aidata.auction/auction-mechanisms/reverse-auction)
- [Posted-price sale](https://aidata.auction/auction-mechanisms/posted-price)
- [Revenue-share licensing](https://aidata.auction/auction-mechanisms/revenue-share)

## Reference
- [AI data deal tracker](https://aidata.auction/deals): Dated, sourced licenses, settlements and funding rounds
- [Glossary](https://aidata.auction/glossary): Definitions of AI data and auction terms
- [Entity map](https://aidata.auction/entity-map)
- [Methodology](https://aidata.auction/methodology)
- [Sources](https://aidata.auction/sources)