2 weeks ago
Indian workers film own jobs at $2.62/hour to train robots
Some workers in India are being paid to film themselves doing their jobs.
They wear small cameras, often phones strapped to their heads and pointed at their hands.
The videos show how they sort plastic, stitch shoes, weld metal and stack sacks.
These videos are used to teach robots how to do the same tasks.
The workers earn about $2.62 an hour for filming themselves.
The recordings are called 'egocentric data,' which means video captured from the worker's own point of view.
Many workers were not told that the videos would help build robots that might take their jobs.
India's government has asked whether the workers really agreed to this.
Some big Indian technology companies have lost a lot of their value as computers get better at doing jobs people used to do.
This shows how new technology can change the way people work.
A Bloomberg investigation documented thousands of workers across India being paid to film their own labour with head-mounted cameras for robotics companies.
Workers such as women segregating plastic packaging in New Delhi wear iPhones strapped to their foreheads, angled to capture every movement of their hands.
The footage, known as egocentric data, is used to train machines to replicate tasks like stitching shoes, welding steel and stripping labels from plastic bags.
Workers earn about $2.62 an hour, and many were reportedly not clearly informed that the footage would be used to train automation systems targeting their own job categories.
India's IT Ministry has raised questions about whether consent in these arrangements is adequate, and the combined market capitalisation of TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra has fallen more than 46 per cent since August 2024.
- Who
- Workers across India, including women in New Delhi segregating plastic packaging, who filmed their own labour for robotics companies; the practice was documented by a Bloomberg investigation.
- What
- Thousands of workers were paid about $2.62 an hour to record their own jobs from a first-person perspective so the footage could be used as training data for robots that may automate their tasks.
- Where
- Across India, including New Delhi.
- When
- The Bloomberg investigation was published this week; the report comes amid a fall of more than 46 per cent in Indian IT companies' market capitalisation since August 2024.
- Why
- Robotics companies need 'egocentric data' — first-person video that captures the tacit knowledge of physical tasks — to teach machines to replicate human labour.
Workers' rights perspective
Industry perspective
Informed consent
Workers' rights perspective
Many workers were not clearly informed that the footage would train automation targeting their own job categories, and India's IT Ministry has questioned whether the consent obtained is adequate.
Industry perspective
Robotics companies pay workers for footage that is valuable training data, presenting the work as an economic opportunity for people in India's labour supply chain.
Impact on Indian labour
Workers' rights perspective
Unlike established data labelling work, here the workers themselves are the data — the purpose of collection is to reproduce their labour without them.
Industry perspective
India's position in the global AI economy has been built on supplying labour services, and demand for this data work keeps people employed.
Key facts
- Hourly pay
- Around $2.62 an hour
- Data type
- Egocentric video footage captured from the worker's viewpoint
- Workers involved
- Thousands across India
- Tasks filmed
- Plastic segregation, stitching shoes, welding steel, stacking sacks
- Camera setup
- iPhones strapped to workers' foreheads
- Investigation source
- Bloomberg
- IT sector market capitalisation decline
- More than 46% since August 2024 (TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra)
- AI-attributed job cuts in 2026
- Nearly 50,000 announced globally
Sources
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