May 30, 2019

Bot driving, at less than $2 an hour

Kaveh Waddell

Kiwi robot — Photo: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty

The sidewalk bots that trundle through Berkeley, delivering food to students and residents near campus, are guided remotely.

Why it matters: The Kiwi Campus bot overseers are sitting thousands of miles away in Colombia, the native country of the company's 3 co-founders, reports Carolyn Said for the San Francisco Chronicle.

They each watch over up to three robots, setting waypoints every 5–10 seconds to get them from place to place.
And they're paid under $2 an hour for the work, Said reports — above local minimum wage.

Our thought bubble: We've written about the invisible, underpaid class of workers who power and improve AI, often from outside the developed countries where the technology is deployed for others' benefit. This couldn't be a better illustration of the pattern.

Kiwi did not respond to requests for comment.

Add Axios on Google

Bot driving, at less than $2 an hour

What to read next