🎯 The Big Picture
This is today’s edition of The Download , our weekday newsletter that delivers a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. The gig workers who are training humanoid robots at home When Zeus, a medical student in Nigeria, returns to his apartment from a long day at the hospital, he straps his iPhone to his forehead and records himself doing chores. Zeus delivers data recorder for Micro1, which sells the data he collects to robotics firms.
📖 What Happened
As these companies race to build humanoids, videos from workers like Zeus have become the hottest new way to train them. Micro1 has hired thousands of them in more than 50 countries, including India, Nigeria, and Argentina. The jobs pay well locally, but raise thorny questions around privacy and informed consent.
The work can be challenging—and weird. Read the full story . —Michelle Kim Our readers recently voted humanoid robots the “11th breakthrough” to add to our 2026 list of 10 Breakthrough Technologies.
Check out what else officially made the cut . AI benchmarks are broken. Here’s what we need instead.
💰 By the Numbers
| 📊 Metric | 💡 Context |
|---|---|
| $5 million | This is today’s edition of The Download , our weekday newsletter... |
| $122 billion | This is today’s edition of The Download , our weekday newsletter... |
| 770% | This is today’s edition of The Download , our weekday newsletter... |
| $26 billion | This is today’s edition of The Download , our weekday newsletter... |
🎤 Highlights
• As these companies race to build humanoids, videos from workers like Zeus have become the hottest new way to train them. &nb...
• The work can be challenging—and weird. Read the full story . —Michelle Kim Our readers recently voted humanoi...
• Check out what else officially made the cut . AI benchmarks are broken. Here’s what we need instead.
🚀 Why It Matters
For decades, AI has been evaluated based on whether it can outperform humans on isolated problems. But it’s seldom used this way in the real world. While AI is assessed in a vacuum, it operates in messy, complex, multi-person environments over time.
⚡ The Bottom Line
For decades, AI has been evaluated based on whether it can outperform humans on isolated problems. But it’s seldom used this way in the real world. While AI is assessed in a vacuum, it operates in messy, complex, multi-person environments over time.
📰 Source: TechCrunch AI 🔗