Human Archive raises $8.2M to collect robot training data from India's gig workers

So, there's this startup called Human Archive, founded by some UC Berkeley and Stanford grads, and they just raised $8.2 million from investors like Wing Venture Capital, NVP Capital, Y Combinator, plus funding from big names like OpenAI, Nvidia, Google, and Meta. They're working on collecting first-person video and sensor data from gig workers in India to improve AI training. They’re partnering with companies in home services, hotels, and restaurants, giving workers special caps with cameras to film their work. They’ve got over 1,000 headsets and more than 50 other devices like gloves and motion suits out there. Even though bigger companies didn’t want to team up, they’re collaborating with smaller startups and offering discounts for data consent. Workers make $1 an hour, and they’re following India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act by using anonymous footage. The Ministry of Electronics and IT is looking into consent in this space. Human Archive also aims to branch out into Southeast Asia and the U.S. while using this data to enhance their AI models. The team includes co-founders Samay Maini, Rushil Agarwal, Shloke Patel, and CEO Raj Patel.