AI is paying Indians to record their lives and train machines that could replace them

Artificial Intelligence has already begun reshaping workplaces around the world, automating tasks once performed by humans and raising fears about the future of millions of jobs.

Now, in a development that sounds straight out of a science-fiction novel, an AI company in Tamil Nadu is paying ordinary people to record their daily lives so that machines can learn how humans work.

In Karur, homemakers, factory workers, and office employees have reportedly been equipped with GoPro cameras, smart glasses and motion sensors that track their movements throughout the day.

Every action, from folding clothes and washing dishes to sorting products in factories and working on office software, is being captured and converted into training data for artificial intelligence models.

For AI companies, this data is gold. For that, these companies are reportedly paying ₹250 an hour.

Homemakers are reportedly recording routine household tasks such as cooking, cleaning, chopping vegetables, and folding laundry. Factory workers performing repetitive industrial jobs and office staff working on software platforms are also contributing data that allows AI systems to observe, analyse, and eventually imitate human behaviour.

The goal is not merely to teach machines what people do, but how they do it.

According to reports, the data collected in Tamil Nadu will be supplied to some of the world's largest technology firms and Fortune 500 companies to help build next-generation AI systems.

The development highlights a growing reality of the AI age: human experience itself is becoming a commodity. Every movement, decision and routine task can be transformed into data that helps machines become smarter.

Critics have long warned that the AI revolution could create a paradox in which workers unknowingly help train the systems that may one day reduce the need for their own jobs.

As AI companies race to build more capable models, India’s homes, offices and factories have real-world classrooms for machines, one recorded task at a time.