India's Hidden Workforce Trains Robots Through Everyday Tasks

In the southern Indian city of Chennai, thousands are engaged in a peculiar form of labor: meticulously recording themselves performing mundane tasks. Their goal is to train artificial intelligence systems, enabling robots to mimic these human actions. This effort, observed by AFP photographer Ramesh Satish Babu, involves capturing up to 90 short videos daily of activities ranging from peeling fruit and folding laundry to making coffee and arranging crayons.

While AI excels at processing digital data, replicating the nuanced physical skills of humans remains a significant challenge. To bridge this gap, AI companies are collecting "egocentric data" – recordings from the perspective of the person performing the task, often using head-mounted cameras or specialized gloves. This allows AI models to learn the intricate motor skills involved in tasks that robots currently struggle to perform without creating a mess.

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They peel fruit, fold clothes, make coffee, sharpen pencils, put crayons in order, fold paper flowers or spread butter on bread, each in a video of a few minutes.

This practice highlights a less-discussed aspect of AI development. Companies like Objectways, an American AI firm working with banks such as Rabobank and Van Lanschot, employ individuals in low-wage countries to gather this data. This mirrors reports of other AI companies, like OpenAI, using workers in India, Uganda, and Kenya for content moderation at similarly low pay rates. These workers sift through disturbing material to train AI filters, earning less than 2 euros per hour.

The promise of AI is that it will free humans from tedious labor, allowing them to pursue more fulfilling activities. However, the current reality for many involved in AI training is a reversal of this ideal. They are performing repetitive, low-paid work to teach machines skills that may eventually render their own labor obsolete. As robots become more adept, the income generated from these data-collection tasks could disappear, raising questions about the equitable distribution of AI's benefits.

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They get just over 2 euros per hour for it, says a 25-year-old woman recording her activities in the kitchen in the South Indian city of Chennai.