And we’re back! I hope you missed me as much as I missed you. As you’re about to see, I mostly spent my break training the robots by strapping a phone to my head and recording myself doing chores around the house. Very restful. Very normal.
We’re out with a new video feature and column about my side hustle as a robot trainer. It’s fun, dystopian and a pretty good preview of what happens when the gig economy goes “Black Mirror.” Also ahead: a handy tool for figuring out the speed of your USB-C cables, plus a preview of OpenAI’s first wearable. Kinda.
Just call me Wayne Szalinski from Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. I'll answer.
For the past three weeks, I’ve been wearing a phone harness—complete with a chin strap—on my head and recording myself doing chores around the house. Then the footage is uploaded to MicroAGI, a German startup that collects data to train robots, in exchange for up to $20 an hour.
That’s the pitch, anyway: Teach future robots to fold laundry, clean the tables and—my proudest contribution—pick up warm dog poop. Make money in return.
And I’m not alone. People around the world are doing the same thing, including apartment cleaners in New York City. Through its Shift program, MicroAGI pays the cleaners, while customers get a free cleaning. The company, which recently raised $55 million, gets hours of first-person video. Yes, I saw it in action. And then I strapped myself in. And you can see it in our new feature video.
Here’s what I learned.
This newsletter was written and curated by Joanna Stern and Adele Lowitz. Not by the robots. 🤖 See you tomorrow! 📆
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