DoorDash Drivers Take on New Role: Training AI Models

In a move to expand its gig economy offerings, DoorDash has introduced a new app that allows its delivery drivers to earn money by training AI-powered robots

Introduction to DoorDash's New App

DoorDash delivery drivers can now add another side gig to their rotation: training AI-powered robots. The food delivery giant launched a standalone app for couriers, called Tasks, that allows the company’s 8 million U.S. gig workers to earn money by recording themselves doing various tasks. The data will then be used to help AI and robotics models better “understand the physical world,” according to the company’s announcement.

How the App Works

Tasks available on the new app include everyday chores like folding clothes, handwashing dishes, and making a bed, with each gig offering a payment sum based on effort and complexity. Harder tasks, like pruning and repotting plants, offer more money. Couriers can also get paid for recording speaking content in other languages. One listing on the app prompts Spanish speakers to have a “natural, unscripted conversation with your friends or family on everyday topics.” DoorDash cofounder and chief technology officer Andy Fang wrote in a social media post about the launch, “We think this will be huge for building the frontier of physical intelligence. Look forward to seeing where this goes!”

A Growing Ecosystem of AI Training Gigs

The introduction of the Tasks app is part of a growing ecosystem of gigs that aim to farm AI training data from willing humans. Last year, Uber piloted a similar initiative allowing its U.S. gig workers to perform additional digital tasks for money, including uploading photos and recordings used to train AI. And the data annotation industry has boomed in recent years, with dozens of platforms hiring contractors to help train AI models online. Now, companies are increasingly seeking to capture physical data about how people move in the world. Such content is then used to help a humanoid robot, for example, learn how to load a dishwasher.

Expanding the Scope of AI Training

Other companies are also exploring innovative ways to collect data for AI training. Instawork, a staffing app that connects businesses with local hourly workers for same-day gigs, has been recruiting workers in Los Angeles to strap on headbands with a phone mount and record themselves cleaning their homes. Sunday Robotics, a California-based company, ships a “skill capture glove” to people across the country who collect motion data by doing household tasks wearing the robotic glove. The gloves, which remember their movements, are then used to train the AI-powered home robot that the company is building. As the demand for AI training data continues to grow, it is likely that more companies will follow suit and introduce similar initiatives. Ethan Beatty, general manager of DoorDash Tasks, said in a statement, “These are the kinds of real-world problems we’ve been solving for over a decade, and we realized the same capabilities that helped us could help other businesses too.”

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