AI companies worldwide are paying workers to record jobs and help robots learn tasks that may replace them

Reported by Business Insider · October 15, 2026Written by Sureno from Business Insider's reporting. The full article stays on Business Insider.

Workers document everyday tasks

A private chef named Demir cooked a three-course meal in San Francisco as part of a data-collection effort run by Shift, a unit of German startup Microagi. The company offered the chef his usual rate of $100 to $150 per person in exchange for first-person footage of his work.

Microagi CEO Bercan Kilic said the company pays more than 35,000 people to record physical tasks in homes and workplaces across more than 15 countries. Shift says participants can earn up to $30 an hour and that it paid out around $10 million in 2026. Other projects use workers in Mexico and the Philippines to control robots remotely in US warehouses, while some people wear cameras as they fold laundry or make hotel beds.

Shift pays more than 35,000 people to record physical tasks, from cooking meals to repairing engines. Courtesy of Shift

Robotics firms seek more data

The footage is intended to help machines learn how people interact with the physical world, supporting potential uses in factories and homes. Brookings Institution fellow Kyle Chan said data is widely viewed as the main bottleneck for robotics.

Companies expand recording methods

Mecka AI, which has raised more than $120 million from investors including Sequoia and Nvidia, began by paying people to record everyday activities. It later encountered limits in using ordinary video, the article reports.

Microagi is expanding its collection work into homes and workplaces. Kilic said he wants to gather enough data to build robots for factories and help address labor shortages in Europe and the US.

A separate account in the article says a company operates in more than 30 countries and pays workers from $1 to $10 an hour, or more, depending on how disruptive the equipment is. CEO Raj Patel said workers could earn nearly as much as, or more than, their regular jobs by wearing the devices. The company is not identified in that passage.

Shift collects data in more than 15 countries to capture a broad range of tasks and environments. Courtesy of Shift

Pay and automation concerns

For workers, the income from recording tasks comes with the possibility that the resulting machines could eventually automate similar work. Demir said he believes his job as a chef is safe, arguing that machines cannot feel or smell.

Kilic has argued that factories face labor shortages as experienced workers retire and replacements are unavailable. Demir described his role in the effort as feeding people and, now, feeding AI.

Key points

Microagi says more than 35,000 people record physical tasks across over 15 countries.
Encord’s Vineeth Velmurugan says demand for robotics training data is about 10 times higher than a year ago.
Workers record tasks including cooking, packing products, folding laundry, and making hotel beds.
Experts cited concerns that data work can depress wages while helping develop machines that may automate jobs.

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