IT Home On October 19, an AI lab focused on collecting real-world data plans to work with property owners to record the work processes of technical workers, which will be used to train AI robots. The company named HUMXN said it will subsidize services such as plumbing, electrical work, HVAC, duct cleaning, and carpet cleaning: residents in need can receive these services for free, in exchange for people wearing “wearable collection devices” allowing them to enter their homes for recording.
HUMXN founder Thomas Unise said: “What the next generation of AI requires will not be merely text and images on the internet. Robots need to understand how professionals interact with the physical world. Home service technicians have to complete millions of high-tech tasks every day. We establish this model so that property owners and service companies can earn economic benefits from the value of these professional skills.”
He added, “Millions of technical workers complete extremely complex tasks every day, but there are very few standardized data formats that can be directly used by AI systems to learn from these professional knowledges. We hope to build infrastructure that connects such knowledge with companies developing the next generation of smart devices, while ensuring that those who create value can participate in the profit distribution.”
HUMXN states that it is difficult to capture the natural behavior of technicians in a laboratory environment. By working with property owners, it is able to collect data from different residences, equipment types, failure scenarios, individual technicians, and environmental conditions. This data allows the AI model to fully learn the entire process of a technician handling tasks: on-site inspection, system testing, selecting appropriate tools, dealing with emergencies, and determining whether the work is qualified.
The laboratory said that this scheme allows homeowners to receive eligible home services for free, while ensuring that service providers get paid as usual. In essence, HUMXN charges residents to obtain the right to record videos and collect real training data in their homes. The first phase of the project is being implemented in three cities: Minneapolis, Chicago, and Miami, in order to gather data under different climate conditions. If you live in one of these three cities and have needs for maintenance or services at home, you can visit the HUMXN free home service website to see if you meet the eligibility criteria.
IT Home notes that many AI laboratories such as Meta, NVIDIA, and OpenAI have been accused of scraping data without permission to train models. In contrast, the HUMXN model, which involves directly paying for training data, is quite innovative. However, it is very likely that next-generation AI will not be able to complete its training solely using text, images, and videos scraped from the internet. Such companies may have to pay for data generated in real scenarios.