SYDNEY, April 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Freelancer.com, the world's #1 outsourcing marketplace for small business, today released the FreelancerAPI, the world's first sophisticated API for tasking humans from software.

Futurist and Scientists hypothesise about a coming technological singularity; a point in time in the future where it is believed that man-machine intelligence will explode, accelerating technological progress at a rate so quickly that the future will be radically different from today. So different, that as mere mortals, limited by the human brain, we cannot even comprehend this future.

Whether or not the singularity will eventuate, man and machine became closer today with the launch of the FreelancerAPI. For over 60 years, humans have programmed computers through software. This API, for the first time, provides a sophisticated programming interface for humans, for use by software. This API allows software for the first time to send sophisticated and complex tasks such as real engineering or problem solving to humans, retrieve the results and pay for the completed work.

"The possibilities with this API are endless," said Matt Barrie, Chief Executive of Freelancer.com. "Imagine, for example, a computer trying to train itself on some complex classification program via machine learning or other artificial intelligence techniques; for the first time this software might decide to request the solution from humans. Software can now simply post a job and hire one, three or 500 humans; software can now literally assemble an army overnight to solve complex problems."

"More powerfully, software might use this API to improve itself, perhaps even perpetually," he continued. "Imagine a trivial example of software that controls a store selling virtual goods; the software might be able to stock the store full of content using the API, soliciting humans to generate more content and retaining the freelancers whose content sells. Provided the store continues to make a profit (or has money in the bank to pay freelancers), this might continue perpetually. We look forward to where this might take us."

Access to the API is available now at http://www.freelancer.com by clicking on the "API" link.

Visit Freelancer.com at: http://www.freelancer.com

See what our users have to say about us here: http://www.freelancer.com/quotes

About Freelancer

Freelancer.com is a global marketplace for online and freelance jobs where businesses connect with independent service providers and freelancers to outsource their work. Freelancer.com connects over 1.4 million employers and freelancers globally from over 234 countries & regions. Through our website, employers can hire freelancers to do work in areas such as software, writing, data entry and design right through to engineering and the sciences, sales and marketing, and accounting & legal services. Freelancer is the leader in the micro-outsourcing market, with the average job size being under US$200. This is extremely cost effective for small businesses, which often need a wide variety of jobs to be done, but cannot justify the expense of hiring full time.

For more information, contact: Chris O'Brien PR Manager URL http://www.freelancer.com Email [email protected]

SOURCE Freelancer.com