00:00Does she know that she is recording data for AI?
00:04The work I'm doing here is getting recorded for helping robotics.
00:07So we're in a textile factory in Karoor where 20 odd workers like Kanaki are training AI.
00:14They're wearing GoPro headsets and collecting data that is going to be used to train artificial intelligence.
00:19In a 30-year-old textile company in Karoor, Tamil Nadu,
00:22factory workers generate nearly 100 to 150 hours of footage,
00:25recording tasks like packing, folding and stitching during an eight-hour shift to train AI.
00:31The workers here are collecting data for ObjectWaste, a US-based AI data solutions company.
00:36For nearly two years, the company has partnered with this textile unit.
00:39Basically, we have the consent from all the employees who are working here, right,
00:43saying that these data can be used across all parts of it.
00:47Right now, these data have been used in the US and also in India.
00:52I was an electrician before and the income was not enough for me to run a family.
00:56So switching jobs has helped me get enough income for the family to live comfortably.
01:01And career shifts like his may become more common.
01:03A 2025 report by the World Economic Forum projected that while automation may displace some jobs,
01:09millions of new roles tied to AI, robotics and data systems are expected to emerge globally.
01:14So I think India is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this current phase.
01:19I do wish we had participated in the AI investment.
01:22But maybe AI is like electricity where you don't need to invent electricity to take advantage of it.
01:27But why record data this way?
01:29Ravi, ObjectWaste's founder, says growing demand for physical AI,
01:33teaching machines to understand movement and interact with the real world, is driving it.
01:37Covid kind of made them like feel that like people were not able to get to the factories to do
01:41things.
01:42Like, you know, if I had things like, you know, can I start working on robots?
01:46Can it start doing some things like, you know, without like humans?
01:49For the textile company too, the partnership has benefits.
01:52We are facing labor shortage in this industry.
01:57So maybe it may be a good idea to have these kind of activities.
02:00Maybe future, maybe we may replace some kind of activities with robotics.
02:05But are workers here worried about AI eventually replacing them?
02:10Is he scared that AI will replace him someday?
02:15I know the future is all about robotics.
02:17And there are talks of how AI will take over all the jobs, but without manpower.
02:23It is not something where AI can operate separately.
02:26My son works in the IT field.
02:28So I'm excited about what I'm doing for future here.
02:31We asked ObjectWaste whether this technology could eventually take away jobs.
02:35But Dravi says automation isn't only about replacing people.
02:39I don't see like a big value of somebody like, you know, folding clothes like day in, day out,
02:44like, you know, 30 years in her life, right?
02:46Like, so like, you know, this is going to provide a lot more opportunities for like, as overall people.
02:52I don't know.
02:54No.
02:55No.
02:55No.
02:56No.
02:56No.
02:57No.
02:57No.
02:57No.
02:57No.
02:57You
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