₹250 an hour to train AI: How Indian workers are shaping the future of robotics

Thousands of Indian workers are earning extra income by recording their daily tasks on cameras and sensors, helping artificial intelligence companies train the next generation of humanoid robots. The development is raising both excitement about technological progress and concerns over the future of human employment.  

From homemakers in Chennai to textile factory workers in Tamil Nadu, people are filming themselves performing routine activities such as cooking, folding clothes, sewing, ironing, and sorting objects. These recordings, known as “egocentric data” because they capture tasks from a first-person perspective, are being used to teach AI-powered robots how humans interact with the physical world.  

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One such contributor, 25-year-old Nagireddy Sriramyachandra from Chennai, straps a smartphone to her head and records household chores for AI data company Objectways. She earns around ₹250 per hour for the work and sees it as a convenient source of income. “Who else will give you 250 rupees an hour just for doing housework?” she was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.  

The data is highly valuable for robotics companies because teaching machines to perform real-world tasks remains one of AI’s biggest challenges. While chatbots and image generators learn from vast amounts of digital content, robots require visual demonstrations of physical actions, hand movements, and object handling to function effectively in homes, factories, and workplaces.  

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Objectways, which operates in India and the United States, works with major global clients and machine-learning platforms. According to company founder Ravi Shankar, clients request videos of activities ranging from folding laundry and making coffee to preparing sandwiches and performing other household chores. He argues that automation can free humans from repetitive tasks and allow them to focus on more meaningful work.  

India has emerged as a major hub for AI data collection and annotation services, thanks to its large workforce and growing technology ecosystem. Experts believe demand for such services will continue to rise as companies race to develop increasingly capable robots.  

Labour experts warn that while AI-driven data collection is creating new opportunities today, it could contribute to automation-related job displacement in the future. India’s government think tank, NITI Aayog, has acknowledged the need to examine how AI will affect the country’s vast informal workforce, which numbers nearly 490 million people.