DoorDash introduced on Thursday that it’s launching a brand new, standalone “Duties” app that can enable the corporate to pay its supply couriers to finish assignments geared toward enhancing AI and robotic programs. Supply couriers will be capable to earn cash by finishing actions like filming on a regular basis duties or recording themselves talking in one other language, DoorDash says.
“This knowledge helps AI and robotic programs perceive the bodily world,” DoorDash wrote in a weblog publish. “Pay is proven upfront and decided primarily based on effort and complexity of the exercise.”
Bloomberg stories that the unique audio and video footage submitted by staff will probably be used to judge each the corporate’s in-house AI fashions and people developed by its companions within the retail, insurance coverage, hospitality, and know-how sectors.
One instance of a activity entails asking a courier to seize footage of their fingers washing a minimum of 5 dishes whereas sporting a physique digital camera, holding every clear dish in body for a couple of seconds earlier than transferring on to the subsequent, Bloomberg stories.
DoorDash isn’t the one firm tapping its supply workforce to coach AI fashions. Late final yr, Uber introduced plans to let drivers earn additional revenue by finishing small jobs, akin to importing images to assist practice AI fashions.
Along with the standalone Duties app, supply couriers will see new digital “Duties” listed on the Dasher app. Examples embrace serving to a restaurant showcase its menu by taking actual images of its dishes or taking images of a resort entrance so supply drivers can discover the drop-off location extra simply. DoorDash’s partnership with Waymo, the place supply couriers are paid to shut the doorways of the self-driving vehicles, can also be listed within the app as a activity.
“The aim of Duties is to assist extra companies perceive what’s taking place on the bottom and collect new insights, all whereas giving Dashers a brand new method to earn on their very own phrases,” mentioned Ethan Beatty, Basic Supervisor, DoorDash Duties, within the weblog publish. “There are greater than 8 million Dashers who can attain virtually anyplace within the U.S. and who wish to earn flexibly past supply. That’s a robust functionality to digitize the bodily world.”
The in-app Duties and the standalone Duties app can be found in choose locations within the U.S., excluding California, New York Metropolis, Seattle, and Colorado. DoorDash plans to increase into extra activity sorts and international locations sooner or later.