The free cleaning service 'shift' has finally launched. How can they clean your house sparkling clean for free?



The free cleaning service '

Shift ' has launched its service in New York City, USA.

Startup offers free home cleaning—if it can record it all for robot training - Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/05/robot-training-startup-will-send-humans-wearing-cameras-to-clean-your-home/







With shift, you first book a free cleaning service on their official website . On the scheduled date, a cleaning staff member from shift will arrive, and all you have to do is explain which areas you want cleaned.

Then the cleaning staff begins cleaning. While basic cleaning supplies are kept on hand, customers are advised to bring their own cleaning equipment if there are any special areas or tools required.



Shift can handle all kinds of cleaning, from garbage collection and toilet cleaning to pantry organization and bathroom cleaning.



The reason the cleaning service is offered free of charge is that they are seeking data necessary for training next-generation home robots. Shift's cleaners wear cameras on their hats, recording their cleaning activities in real time. This data is extremely valuable, which is why Shift offers its cleaning service for free.



The privacy of the footage recorded by shift is fully protected, and all names, facial images, and other personal information are automatically anonymized. Anything that could identify personal information, such as PC screens, ID cards, pieces of paper, or mobile phones, that appears in the footage is blurred to make it invisible.

Shift is provided by the German startup MicroAGI. MicroAGI founder Bercan Kilic also posted, 'We're coming to San Francisco, London, Zurich and Munich soon,' suggesting that Shift will soon be available in areas other than New York.




According to shift's privacy policy , the company uses 'advanced machine learning models' that operate directly on smart glasses and video capture devices to 'automatically identify personal information such as faces and obfuscate it using blurring or other methods' before the data is uploaded to the company's cloud servers.

However, there is no mention of whether users can later request the removal of videos of their home cleaning. It is also unclear whether Shift's anonymization technology is sufficient to prevent the identification of an individual's home.

Additionally, they warn that if you cancel the free cleaning service, you may be charged if you do not cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled date and do not allow the cleaners into your home at the scheduled time.

Harry Kilberg, General Manager of Shift, claims that Shift already has tens of thousands of users in 15 countries who are asked to record their daily work and household chores and are being paid for it. It has been reported that in the first quarter of fiscal year 2026, the company paid more than $5 million (approximately 797 million yen) in total to more than 10,000 operators.

On the social forum Hacker News, comments included: 'It appears Shift is trying to enter the 3D mapping business of homes, something that robot vacuums like Roomba haven't yet been able to map. They could make a lot of money selling floor plans of homes to the police. At the same time, they could scan all sorts of objects while cleaning customers' homes and data-mining their purchasing trends. Training AI and bots may be part of what they're trying to achieve, but I can't help but wonder what else they're trying to do. I'm very suspicious of technology companies that try to make bringing their technology into your home seem like a great idea. If this company really develops a cleaning robot, the robot might mistake something for a hiding place for weapons or drugs and automatically call the police. Or a vengeful person might remotely hack the robot and call a SWAT team. The thought of that happening is terrifying. Also, if this kind of work is what we often hear about as 'unskilled' labor , then the AI system shouldn't need any training for it.' and ' Bots renting houses on Airbnb and ransacking them to test their robots.' Comments included, 'It's better than The Company ,' and 'My wife recently asked me about a job she found on Craigslist . Apparently, it's a shell company, and the job offers $10 an hour (about 1600 yen) just for wearing a camera on your head while doing certain household chores like laundry and washing dishes. My wife asked me what I thought it was, so I replied , 'Someone's probably collecting training data.''

Related Posts:

in AI,   Video, Posted by logu_ii