I Got a Free Meal From a Private Chef—Who Filmed It All to Train Robots
A new trend in the gig economy involves individuals recording their daily tasks, such as cooking or cleaning, to provide training data for humanoid robots. Companies like Shift pay participants in services or small amounts of cash to capture first-person 'egocentric' video data.
Why it matters
This highlights the growing demand for human-centric data in AI development and the emergence of new, unconventional labor markets.
I signed up for a free lunch in exchange for the whole experience being recorded and uploaded as training data. As chef Ollie unpacked his supplies and started on a gazpacho, the hat cam recorded his hand movements, with the intention that this data could help build a better robot—one with culinary expertise.
It’s all part of the growing boom of egocentric data collection—recording human hand movements from a first-person point of view. Shift made waves earlier this year by providing free cleaning services in New York City under a similar arrangement: Let Shift record tasks in your home and, in exchange, you get a gratis service. The company expanded in San Francisco by offering free home-cooked meals. If, in the not-so-distant future, I’m able to buy a skilled humanoid to coexist with at home, I sure hope that its knife-wielding skills are up to par.
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