Gig Workers Emerge as New Key Players in AI Robot Training

Gig workers are now training robots. A trend is emerging where individuals working on-demand without a fixed employer are taking on a new role: collecting data to train humanoid robots.

Zeus, a medical student in Nigeria, records himself performing household chores like washing dishes or cleaning, with an iPhone attached to his forehead. He is a data collector for Micro1, a startup that sells training video data to robot companies. This footage is directly used to train humanoid robots. Micro1 employs thousands of data collectors in over 50 countries, including India, Nigeria, and Argentina.

MIT Technology Review readers voted to add humanoid robots to their list of the 10 Breakthrough Technologies for 2026 as the '11th Innovation'.