Inside the race to train robots on human work
Startups are paying individuals to record their daily activities to provide training data for humanoid robots. This effort aims to overcome the data bottleneck currently hindering the development of AI-driven physical labor.
Why it matters
It illustrates the commodification of human physical labor as a necessary resource for the advancement of robotics and AI.
Tyler Le/BI One Friday evening this summer, a private chef prepared a three-course meal — burrata salad, baked salmon, and tiramisu — for two friends and me. The dinner was free, but there was a catch. A camera mounted on Chef Aliser Demir's baseball cap was recording everything. Demir came to my apartment through Shift, the data-collection arm of the German startup Microagi . The startup offers free private chefs in San Francisco in exchange for first-person footage of their work. Shift offered to pay Demir, who runs a private chef business, his usual rate of $100 to $150 per person. "I've been feeding people since I started this job," Demir said. "Now I am also feeding AI."
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