25-year-old solo founder-CEO of micro1, the fastest-growing small-cap in expert data ($500M gross run rate, Aug 2026). He is the sector's most outspoken 'America-first' voice (no sales to Chinese labs) and is pushing beyond hours into resellable datasets and robotics data.
high confidencePalo AltoAt micro1 since 2022Updated 2026-09-19
Background
Born in Tehran; came to the US at age 10 (2010) via the green-card lottery. His parents started a kitchen-remodelling business and a daycare. Founded micro1 as a UC Berkeley undergraduate in 2022 as an AI recruiting engine (AI interviewer); it pivoted when customers used it to source people for AI training work. Enrolled in a Stanford master's (on leave), saying he applied mainly to get into its research circles.
What they run now
Scaling the expert network to enterprise (Fortune 1000 agent evaluation), off-the-shelf datasets resold to multiple clients, and robotics pre-training data (camera-glasses kits capturing everyday tasks); raising a new round.
Career
2022 – presentFounder & CEO, micro1
—UC Berkeley, Undergraduate (Computer Science)
—Stanford University, Master's (in progress) — on leave; focus on reinforcement learning per micro1 bio
On the record
China · 2026-08
Says selling human data to Chinese model makers is shameful for companies claiming to back American AI dominance; micro1 does not do it. source
Market size · 2025-12
Predicted the human-data market grows from $10-15B to nearly $100B within two years. source
Next demand wave · 2025-12
Sees enterprise AI agents (needing expert evaluation) and robotics pre-training as the two big new segments. source
AI in hiring · 2025-12
Argues AI screening frees recruiters for judgement-heavy work rather than replacing them. source
Recent posts
34 posts archived · most engaged first, then the latest
we’re hiring 10,000 robotics trainers in the next 7 days.
$50–$90/hour, accepting applicants globally. you’ll review and label videos of robots performing tasks to help them improve. no prior AI experience required.
an entirely new category of work is emerging around teaching robots how to interact with the world.
application link in the comments below.
Excited to share that micro1 has been selected to support the U.S. Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission.
Genesis is a Manhattan Project-scale national effort to accelerate scientific discovery with AI and build the energy foundation needed to power America’s AI leadership.
micro1 will support the mission by developing the data and evaluations that enable frontier AI to tackle some of the country’s most difficult scientific and engineering challenges.
We’re proud to play a role in an effort this important to the future of American science, energy, and AI. More on our work with the DOE linked in the comments. 🇺🇲
The future of AI belongs to the humans behind it.
There’s a common fear that as AI gets better, people get pushed out of the picture. We believe the opposite is happening.
AI is creating entirely new categories of work, and an entirely new economy around the people whose knowledge, judgment, and experience are helping these systems improve.
Today, tens of thousands of experts are actively contributing to AI training projects through micro1. Over time, we believe this will grow to tens of millions+.
And if humans are going to play such a critical role in building the future of AI, the companies they work with should raise the standard for how they’re supported.
Today, I’m proud to announce the micro1 Expert Support Program.
We’re building a new set of protections, resources, and support for our expert community, starting with:
-Expert Bill of Rights: a clear set of commitments outlining what experts can expect when working with micro1.
-Rest Credits: paid time away from projects when experts need or want a break.
-Expert Emergency Fund: financial support for experts facing emergencies.
-Mental Health & Coaching: new resources to support expert wellbeing and growth.
-Confidential Support Line: a confidential way to ask questions, seek support, or raise concerns related to pipelines.
Within the next two weeks, every expert currently active with micro1 will receive an email with the full program details and launch dates.
AI is going to keep getting more capable. The opportunity in front of us is to make sure the people helping build it benefit from that progress too.
the hardware embodiment of frontier models like Claude and GPT is the most urgent AI safety problem in front of us today.
we simulated two very simple use cases using claude both in simulation and using robot arms.
in one, claude spilled toxic liquids in a lab.
in another, the force it used to place an animal toy into a basket was strong enough that it could have physically harmed sensitive material—or anything else in its path.
these are simple experiments, using models out of the box today. as researchers increasingly give frontier models arms, legs, and access to the physical world, we need to urgently build and assess guardrails around what these systems can and cannot do.
models escaping sandboxes or compromising enterprise security infrastructure are serious concerns. however, hardware embodiments introduce something fundamentally different: an AI system can make a mistake in the physical world, and the consequences may not be reversible.
this is not a future safety problem. the capabilities exist today.
we’ve released a report detailing this & solutions we propose: lnkd.in/gTpyk7zW
the hardware embodiment of frontier models like Claude and GPT is the most urgent AI safety problem in front of us today.
we simulated two very simple use cases using claude both in simulation and using robot arms.
in one, claude spilled toxic liquids in a lab.
in another, the force it used to place an animal toy into a basket was strong enough that it could have physically harmed sensitive material—or anything else in its path.
these are simple experiments, using models out of the box today. as researchers increasingly give frontier models arms, legs, and access to the physical world, we need to urgently build and assess guardrails around what these systems can and cannot do.
models escaping sandboxes or compromising enterprise security infrastructure are serious concerns. however, hardware embodiments introduce something fundamentally different: an AI system can make a mistake in the physical world, and the consequences may not be reversible.
this is not a future safety problem. the capabilities exist today.
we’ve released a report detailing this & solutions we propose. link in comments below.
deeply concerning that some American data companies are selling AI training data to labs in adversarial nations. this also includes operational data from U.S. businesses turned into AI training environments, and without telling the business owners.
operational data captures years of how a company works, makes decisions and solves problems. when that knowledge becomes an RL environment, AI models practice those workflows and learn from the experience that business spent years building here in the U.S.
signing a deal with an American company shouldn’t mean unknowingly helping train AI for a foreign adversary.
at micro1 we only work with U.S. AI labs and our allies. we won’t ever sell proprietary American business knowledge (or any other data driving the frontier of AI) to adversarial nations.
Accounts whose posts Ali has reposted recently: micro1.
Why it matters here
micro1 is small and fast enough to partner with or subcontract to a specialist, and its dataset-resale model is exactly how a taste-data business could escape selling hours. His robotics/video data push also touches visual judgement. Moderate direct relevance.
How to reach
Accessible founder: active on X/LinkedIn, runs a public forum series. Pitch a vertical he lacks (visual/design judgement) framed as resellable off-the-shelf datasets, which he says carry 80-90% margins (speculation).
What we could not establish
Current valuation (Inc. says >$2.5B; not confirmed by a round announcement).
Share of revenue from off-the-shelf datasets vs expert hours.
Miju Labs
