Startup trades free home cleaning for robot training data
▼ Summary
– MicroAGI, a German startup, offers free home cleaning in NYC in exchange for recording cleaners to train AI robots.
– The service uses the Shift app, promoted on social media since May 28, to book two-hour cleaning appointments.
– Recorded footage is anonymized by blurring names, faces, and personal information before use, per the app’s FAQ.
– The privacy policy states machine learning models on capture devices perform irreversible blurring before data uploads.
– The article notes no option exists for users to request video removal from training datasets, and anonymization may not prevent home identification.
A German tech startup is offering New Yorkers a tempting deal: free home cleaning in exchange for the right to record every move their cleaners make. The catch? Those recordings are being used to train the next generation of AI-powered household robots.
The company behind the offer is MicroAGI, which describes itself as a “team of engineers, researchers, and operators on a mission to accelerate embodied AI.” On May 28, it launched the Shift app, promoting a free cleaning service with a promotional video set to “Empire State of Mind” on social platforms like X and LinkedIn.
According to the Shift app’s website, the service “connects New Yorkers with free, trusted professional house cleaners” in return for recording “first-person cleaning footage to help train the next generation of household robots.” To book a two-hour appointment, users must provide a phone number, email, home address, and access instructions.
From a privacy perspective, the company insists it takes precautions. The Shift app’s FAQ states that “names, faces or other personal information is automatically anonymized, with any sensitive details blurred before it’s ever used… We blur all personally identifiable information from screens and ID cards, to pieces of paper and cell phones to help protect both you and your home.”
The privacy policy further explains that advanced machine learning models running directly on smart glasses or video capture devices perform “irreversible transformations such as automated face blurring and identifier obfuscation” before any data reaches the company’s cloud servers.
However, significant questions remain. There is no mention of whether users can ever request that their home cleaning videos be removed from robot training datasets. And it is unclear whether the company’s anonymization techniques are robust enough to guarantee that a person’s home cannot be identified when it appears in future AI training sets.
(Source: Ars Technica)
