Indian Workers Training AI Robots That Could Replace Their Jobs

Indian – (Web Desk) – Indian workers training AI robots are doing something surprising — filming their daily chores from home. A 25-year-old housewife in Chennai named Nagireddy Sriramyachandra straps a smartphone to her head and records herself slicing mangoes. For every hour of video, she earns about two dollars.

She says, “Who else will pay you just for doing housework?” She even jokes that she might own a robot herself one day.

Why Are These Videos So Important?

Tech companies around the world need real-life human footage to teach robots how to move and work in homes and factories. Regular AI tools learn from text and images, but robots need something different. They need first-person videos, also called egocentric data, to understand how humans use their hands in real environments.

Workers record themselves folding clothes, making sandwiches, cooking, and arranging everyday objects. Some wear smart glasses or head-mounted cameras. Others use motion sensors on their wrists and legs.

The Company Behind It

An AI data company called Objectways, based in Tamil Nadu, collects these videos. It works with major global tech clients and uses Amazon’s machine learning platform. Its head, Ravi Shankar, says certain jobs will be taken over by robots so that humans can move on to better work.

A studio run by Objectways has fully furnished fake rooms where workers film themselves doing household tasks all day. One 21-year-old engineering graduate named Rani says she records around 90 short videos every day — folding towels in nearly every spot on the bed.

India’s Growing Role in AI

India has quietly become a key player in creating and processing data for AI systems worldwide. Thousands of informal workers are now part of this growing industry — from factory workers in Andhra Pradesh to flower garland sellers on the streets of Bengaluru.

A 55-year-old street vendor named Ponni also had a phone strapped to her forehead for recording. But she worries about the next generation. She fears that younger workers who do similar jobs may suffer when robots take over.

What Experts Are Saying

India’s government think-tank, Niti Aayog, has warned that little attention is given to how AI affects the country’s 490 million informal workers. It says most discussions focus on white-collar job losses, while the real backbone of the economy is being ignored.

Some industry leaders are more hopeful. One company founder believes that humans and robots will work side by side in the future. He imagines a welder in India remotely managing a welding robot in another country.

For now, workers like Sriramyachandra are just happy to earn a fair wage from home — even if the job they are helping to build may one day replace someone else.