DoorDash lets drivers earn by recording tasks to train AI

DoorDash launched a standalone Tasks app that lets U.S. couriers record everyday chores and spoken content to earn pay while supplying data to train AI and robotics models.

DoorDash has launched a standalone app called Tasks that lets its U.S. couriers earn money by recording themselves performing everyday chores and spoken content. The company says those recordings will be used to help train AI and robotics models to better understand the physical world. The app is presented as a pilot and sits alongside the main Dasher app, where couriers can already find a wider range of short gigs. Payments for Tasks are offered per listing and vary based on the effort and complexity of each assignment. Key details: - The Tasks app is available to the company’s roughly 8 million U.S. couriers. - Available listings include activities such as folding clothes, handwashing dishes, making beds, pruning and repotting plants, and recording natural conversations in other languages. - Each task shows a payment amount that the company says scales with effort and complexity. - DoorDash described the Tasks app as an initial pilot focused on activities that could train AI or robotics and said it plans to add other types of activities over time. - The company also plans additional task options within the regular Dasher app, such as checking restaurant hours, photographing tricky drop-off locations, or assisting an autonomous vehicle when needed. Summary: The Tasks pilot provides a paid option for couriers to create real-world data intended for AI and robotics training and sits alongside other gig listings in the Dasher ecosystem. DoorDash says it will expand the variety of activities over time and integrate more task types into the main Dasher app as the pilot proceeds.