Anker Pays Eufy Users to Share Videos for AI Training
▼ Summary
– Anker offered Eufy security camera users $2 per video of package and car thefts to train its AI systems, including staged events.
– The campaign aimed to collect 20,000 videos each of package thefts and car door pulling, with users submitting via a Google Form for payment.
– Eufy has ongoing programs like the Video Donation Program, rewarding users with badges or gifts for videos involving humans to improve AI.
– Privacy concerns exist due to past incidents where Eufy misled users about end-to-end encryption and a security flaw in a similar app, Neon.
– Eufy did not respond to inquiries about campaign details, video deletion, or a specific initiative requesting baby monitor videos without monetary reward.
Anker, the parent company of Eufy security cameras, recently launched a program offering financial incentives to users who submit video footage of theft incidents. The initiative aimed to gather extensive visual data to enhance the company’s artificial intelligence systems, specifically improving their ability to identify and alert homeowners to package and vehicle-related crimes. For each qualifying video, participants received a payment of two dollars.
The company explicitly encouraged users to submit recordings of both genuine theft events and staged scenarios. On its official website, Eufy suggested that individuals could even simulate criminal acts themselves to generate usable footage. One example provided indicated that a user could potentially earn up to eighty dollars by capturing multiple angles of a staged car door theft using two outdoor cameras. Eufy assured participants that all video data collected through this method would be used exclusively for internal AI algorithm training, with no other purposes intended.
This strategy highlights a growing corporate willingness to purchase user-generated content that can refine machine learning models. While it presents an opportunity for customers to monetize their own data, it simultaneously raises significant questions regarding digital security and personal privacy. A recent incident involving the calling app Neon underscores these vulnerabilities; the platform, which also paid users for their data, suffered a security breach that exposed private call recordings and transcripts to unauthorized access. Following the discovery of this flaw, Neon was taken offline.
The Eufy video collection campaign was active from late December 2024 through February 2025. On the announcement page for the program, over one hundred twenty users confirmed their participation in the comments. Eufy’s objective was to accumulate twenty thousand videos for both package theft and car door pulling incidents. Users interested in contributing were directed to a Google Form where they could upload their videos and provide PayPal details for reimbursement.
Eufy did not respond to media inquiries about the total number of participants, the overall payout to users, the final video count collected, or whether the company deleted the footage after completing its AI training. Since the conclusion of that campaign, Eufy has continued similar efforts under its Video Donation Program. This ongoing initiative rewards users with virtual accolades like an “Apprentice Medal” displayed in the app, as well as physical gifts including cameras and gift cards. The current program specifically requests videos that include human subjects.
Within the Eufy application, an “Honor Wall” publicly ranks users based on their volume of donated videos. The top contributor has reportedly shared more than two hundred thousand video events. Eufy’s program page reiterates that donated content is used solely for AI training and enhancement, with a promise not to distribute videos to third parties.
Separately, Eufy also solicits video donations from users of its baby monitors. The instructions for sharing these videos do not mention any monetary compensation, unlike the theft-focused campaign. The company has not provided comments on this particular aspect of its data collection efforts.
Past events have fueled skepticism regarding Eufy’s dedication to user privacy. In 2023, an investigation revealed that the company’s camera feeds, marketed as end-to-end encrypted, were actually accessible without encryption through its web portal. After initially disputing these claims, Anker eventually acknowledged the misleading information and committed to resolving the security shortcomings.
(Source: TechCrunch)
