![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/14239a9535204ff74be982cce56273d3.jpeg\")
Derek Hudson \/ Getty Images <\/p>\n Derek Hudson \/ Getty Images <\/p>\n
Meta employees aren\u2019t the only workers who are training artificial intelligence to replace them<\/a>. A German startup is offering free housecleaning to people in New York City \u2014 but to get those services, you\u2019ll have to be okay with the cleaners wearing cameras while they work.<\/p>\n The data those cameras gather will be used to train AI-driven robots, says MicroAGI, the company behind the unusual promotion. The service is available via MicroAGI\u2019s Shift app<\/a>, which the company is currently promoting on social media sites like LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/p>\n Must Read <\/p>\n \u201cHere\u2019s how it works,\u201d the company writes. \u201cBook a shift cleaning. A vetted shift operator comes to your home wearing one of our devices. They clean. They leave. You pay nothing. In exchange, we record the cleaning. Robotics is being built on data about how people do daily tasks, and the value of that recording is what funds the service. Anything personal in it is anonymized before the recording is processed.\u201d<\/p>\n Privacy concerns <\/p>\n While there\u2019s certainly a strong appeal in something for nothing, especially a service like housekeeping, which can cost $300 or more in NYC<\/a>, there are a few things to consider before jumping into this. First, there\u2019s the matter of letting a stranger into your home and giving them full access. Shift doesn\u2019t go into detail about how it vets the people it sends out to clean.<\/p>\n Also, that \u201canonymized before processing\u201d line is doing a lot of heavy lifting. While the startup says it will blur out names, faces and personal information its cameras capture before it uploads<\/a> the footage to its cloud servers, mistakes happen and technology isn\u2019t infallible. And, of course, should the company go out of business, the data could be sold to someone else.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also unclear if people can request that videos of their home be removed from the training programs.<\/p>\n The app\u2019s privacy policy<\/a> says the core business of MicroAFI is \u201cthe collection of data for robotics training.\u201d People who are uncomfortable letting strangers into their homes in NYC or who prefer their own level of neat can alternatively wear a camera and record themselves doing daily activities, from cooking and cleaning to repairs or your daily work tasks. Doing so, they can earn $20 per hour<\/a> plus bonuses.<\/p>\n Read More: Taxes are going to change under Trump\u2019s \u2018big beautiful bill\u2019 \u2014 4 reasons you can\u2019t afford to waste time<\/a><\/p>\n Training the robots <\/p>\n Of course, in accepting the free cleaning or filming yourself vacuuming, you\u2019re helping to train AI to do the chore in the future. That might be a convenience for some people, but it puts others at risk of not being able to find work down the road.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just housecleaning either. Shift says other chores will be offered as well in the future.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, cleaning in New York. Soon, handymen, repairs, and errands across the globe,\u201d it wrote. \u201cAnd this is just one side of Shift, with more on the way.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not unlike the announcement from Meta last month<\/a> that employee mouse movements and keystrokes would be used for AI training data. Experts worry that this sort of employee surveillance could raise substantial privacy concerns and put jobs at risk in the future.<\/p>\n You May Also Like <\/p>\n Join 250,000+ readers and get Moneywise\u2019s best stories and exclusive interviews first \u2014 clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now.<\/a><\/p>\n This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com<\/a> under the title: A startup will clean your NYC home for free \u2014 if you let camera-wearing cleaners film it to train AI-powered robots<\/a><\/p>\n This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. 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