‘I’m working in my own grave’: Workers in India are training robots that may replace them

▤ Summary

Workers in Indian factories and homes are recording first-person “egocentric” videos of manual tasks for AI and robotics firms, often with little information about how the footage will be used. Companies like Objectways and Humyn Labs collect, annotate, and sell this behavioral data to train robots to perform delicate, human-like physical tasks. Workers report low pay, limited consent, and fear that the datasets they produce could help automate and replace their roles. Robotics labs and investors are demanding massive amounts of such data to build adaptable robots for dynamic environments, driving rapid expansion of data-collection operations across low-cost regions.

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