AI Companies Pay Up to $150/Hour for Your Daily Task Videos

Robotics AI startups are turning to everyday people to help train the next generation of humanoid robots, offering compensation ranging from $10 to $150 per hour for first-person videos of routine household tasks.

A recent Craigslist posting from a New York-based robotics AI startup requested iPhone footage of activities like cooking dinner, doing laundry, and cleaning. These seemingly mundane videos serve a critical purpose: teaching AI models how to navigate spaces, manipulate objects, and perform household activities that humans take for granted.

The Growing Demand for Real-World Training Data

The robotics industry has attracted over $12 billion in venture capital investment this year, driving intense demand for high-quality training data. Unlike large language models that can learn from existing internet content, robotics AI requires real-world footage captured specifically for training purposes.

“Unlike LLMs, robotics doesn’t have the internet as a ready-made dataset—you have to generate training data from scratch in the real world,” explains Ulrik Hansen, cofounder of data labeling startup Encord.

What Your Videos Could Be Worth

Compensation varies based on task complexity. Basic household activities like laundry and cleaning typically pay $20-$50 per hour, while content creators have sold unused footage for $1-$4 per minute. Highly specialized tasks, such as handling surgical equipment, command premium rates up to $150 hourly.

The footage helps robots develop fine motor skills and precision movement—capabilities essential for ambitious goals like constructing space habitats, as envisioned by tech leaders like Jeff Bezos.

For now, these AI systems are starting with fundamentals: separating darks from lights and mastering cold water cycles.