🤖 People Spend Hours Filming Their Daily lives to Train Androids

Dattu, an engineering student from India, straps an iPhone to his forehead after classes and spends hours filming himself folding clothes on his balcony. Zeus, a medical student from Nigeria, also spends several hours every day ironing in front of the camera.

These two are among the thousands of data recorders working for the American startup Micro1. They get strict instructions—for example, to keep their hands in the frame and move naturally.

The company collects and labels these videos, which Tesla, Figure AI, and other humanoid robot developers then use to train their androids’ "AI brains" to perform everyday tasks.

💰 For standard recordings, Zeus and other Micro1 data collectors earn $15 per hour. And for complex tasks' videos, such as surgical procedures, robotics startups are willing to pay up to $150 per hour.

ℹ️ However, only about 25% of these human-recorded real-life footage is good enough to train robots. Videos are often recorded in cramped apartments and living conditions that are far from ideal.

"If those folks are teaching those bad habits that could lead to an incident, then that’s not good data," explains Aaron Prather, a roboticist at ASTM International.

Would you take a job like this?

❤️ — Yes, great pay
🤔 — Maybe, but for a higher salary
🔥 — No, never!

@hiaimediaen