Pronto, the domestic services platform, is now collecting physical AI training data from thousands of Indian homes via its workers' body cameras. This footage directly feeds into Provision Labs, a San Francisco-based AI venture started by Pronto founder Anjali Sardana, to train future robots. The company remains tight-lipped on worker consent, compensation, and how this data transfer between India and the US actually works.
How We Got Here
Pronto entered India's urban domestic services market in 2025, quickly scaling to serve half a million households across 11 cities. By July 2026, it introduced "Verified," an opt-in premium service where housekeepers began wearing cameras, exploring physical AI data generation.
The Numbers
- Pronto's founder Anjali Sardana set up San Francisco-based Provision Labs in October 2026 to collect data for training AI systems designed for real-world robotic tasks.
- Provision Labs quickly acquired Mumbai-based Basilisk Industries, a 2023-founded perception tech company.
- Basilisk founder Shourya Watwani will lead Provision's hardware efforts, bringing expertise in 3D hand-tracking and tactile gloves for touch-related data.
- Pronto initially aimed to compete with Urban Company and Snabbit in India's domestic services market.
- Pronto declined to comment on how its household data collection operations relate to Provision Labs' AI venture.
What Happens Next
🇮🇳 Why This Matters for India
For India's massive domestic services sector and its workers, this sets a concerning precedent for turning human labor into raw, potentially under-compensated, AI training data.
The Take
This is the new "Indian gold rush" — not for software, but for cheap, real-world physical AI training data extracted from human labor. The lack of transparency around consent and ownership shows who really benefits when Indian homes become data labs for US robotics.
Source:
Inc42 ↗