Amazon Web Services has announced it will permanently close its Mechanical Turk (MTurk) platform on September 30, 2026. [5, 7, 8] Launched in 2005, the crowdsourcing marketplace connected businesses with a global workforce to perform virtual microtasks like data validation, survey participation, and content moderation. [5, 6]
The service, once a key tool for training AI models, has seen its utility decline due to the advancement of generative AI and the rise of specialized data annotation firms. [4, 7] The platform's value was also undermined by a growing number of its human workers using AI to complete the tasks, compromising data quality. [4, 10, 12] The complete shutdown follows Amazon's decision in July 2026 to stop accepting new customers onto the platform. [2, 6]