Pronto founder launches Provision Labs to collect robot training data

Anjali Sardana, founder of the home services startup Pronto, has launched Provision Labs, a physical AI firm in San Francisco. Physical AI is AI that controls robots and other machines, and Provision Labs will collect data to train and test it. Sardana is the chief executive of Pronto and Provision Labs, and the launch comes months after a Pronto data pilot caused criticism.

How it works

Provision Labs will get training data from professionals in many sectors in many countries. It will also help AI developers deploy their models. Other firms sell footage of workers who do physical tasks to AI labs, such as Human Archive.

The proof

No funding, customers or results are given for Provision Labs. In the pilot, Pronto told that it covered less than 0.01% of its users. It also told that customers chose it at booking and that footage is deleted in 48 hours or less.

What is not known

Critics questioned if customers understand how home recordings could be used. No rules on consent are given for Provision Labs. In India, the open questions are consent, pay, the privacy of other persons on camera and how much value stays in India.

Insight: Human data is the new supply race

iMerit supplies more than 30,000 experts in 118 countries, and ExlService bought it in July. Human Archive sells worker footage to AI labs, and Provision Labs is in the same trade. This reads as a race to control the supply of human data that model makers must have. Buyers of such data must know where it came from, since consent and pay questions are open.