Bengaluru vegetable seller with iPhone headgear earns ₹100,000 a month through ‘artificial intelligence work’ | Today’s news
A Bengaluru vegetable vendor who was spotted wearing a head-mounted device with an iPhone resting on his forehead has left commuters confused. A video shared by an Instagram user named Vaibhav shows the retailer allegedly collecting real-world data for artificial intelligence (AI) training. Vaibhav shared that he was riding his scooter when he spotted a vegetable vendor wearing a setup equipped with an “iPhone and a memory card”.
Why was the seller wearing the device?
Vaibhav said he approached the vendor to ask why she was wearing a headband.
“I was just riding my scooty when I literally had to hit the brakes to do so,” he wrote.
The man reportedly told an Instagram user that the headband, equipped with a memory card and an iPhone, records his surroundings for the company — whose identity remains unknown — which then uses real-world data to teach artificial intelligence how the world looks and works.
According to the Instagram post, the seller claimed to be paid ₹350 per hour for the job, leading many online users to calculate that he could earn more than ₹1 lakh per month.
“Answer? Collects real-world data to train AI. Kicker? They get paid.” ₹350/hour Calculate: 10 hours a day = ₹3500/day. That’s the end ₹1,05,000 per month,” Vaibhav wrote.
‘The future is wild’
Vaibhav said he was amazed to learn that a street vendor could potentially earn more than many office workers simply by “helping collect data for AI”.
“Still sitting here processing the fact that a street vendor can make half of corporate India by walking around with a smartphone on his head. The future is wild,” he wrote.
How did social networks react?
The clip sparked a flurry of reactions online, with many users expressing shock at how AI-related jobs are creating unexpected earning opportunities.
One user wrote: “What if bro is streaming?”
Another asked, “What AI platform?”
A third user said: “For anyone who isn’t aware, this is basically becoming another version of the AI services industry, something India had a huge advantage in because companies could hire skilled talent here at a much lower cost. But now that tools like Claude are so good, a lot of that advantage is gone. India still has a cost advantage, but we don’t yet have enough deep technological innovation to dominate entirely new sectors.”
This is called egocentric data collection. People use devices like the iPhone with LiDAR sensors to record real human activities with depth and motion understanding. This data is then sold to US robotics and humanoid companies so they can train robots to behave more like humans and interact properly with items such as folding clothes, cooking, washing dishes and everyday tasks.
This is another big hot sector (no comment on how good/bad it will be)”
A fourth user commented: “I respect my brother’s hard work… But the output will be damaged due to background noise.”
(Disclaimer: This report is based on user generated content from social media. Livemint has not independently verified and does not endorse these claims.)
