If doing laundry feels like a chore, here’s some good news: you can now get paid for it.
Artificial intelligence companies are shelling out serious cash to everyday people who film themselves doing household tasks — from folding clothes and loading dishwashers to making coffee and cooking dinner. The goal? To help robots learn how to do them, too.
The Rise of “Robot Training Jobs”
As AI continues to evolve, robotics has become the next big frontier — and robots need to learn from humans before they can replace them.
Startups like Encord and Micro1 are partnering with robotics firms to collect “training data” — the step-by-step videos that teach machines how to move, grasp, and complete complex tasks.
Unlike chatbots that can scrape text from the internet, robots need human examples to master coordination and dexterity.
“Robotics doesn’t have the internet as a ready-made dataset,” said Ulrik Hansen, cofounder of Encord. “You have to generate training data from scratch in the real world, which is far harder.”
The Pay Is Surprisingly Good
How much can you make?
Anywhere from $25 to $50 an hour, according to Ali Ansari, CEO of Micro1 — and up to $150 an hour for technical demonstrations like handling surgical tools.
The catch: you’ll likely need to wear smart glasses (like Meta’s Ray-Bans) or set up a camera to record yourself performing the tasks. The footage helps train humanoid robots being developed by companies such as Boston Dynamics and Physical Intelligence, a firm backed by Jeff Bezos that’s reportedly raising money at a $5 billion valuation.
Some startups have even turned to Craigslist, offering $10 to $20 an hour for people willing to film their chores on an iPhone.
“There are no major datasets you can buy,” one robotics founder told Business Insider. “We have to build them ourselves.”
The Future of AI Starts in Your Living Room
Tech giants are betting that robotics is about to have its own “ChatGPT moment.”
Investors have poured over $12 billion into the field this year alone, according to PitchBook — and they all need one thing: data.
That means the next big innovation in AI might not come from a lab — but from someone’s laundry room, kitchen, or garage.
So if you’ve ever wished your chores could make you money, the robots are finally listening.
