DoorDash now lets couriers earn extra money by recording themselves doing everyday tasks. The materials will be used to train artificial intelligence (AI) and robots.
DoorDash has launched a standalone app called Tasks, which allows couriers to earn between deliveries or in their own time by filming their everyday activities or speaking in another language.
The photos and videos will be used to help AI and robotic systems “understand the physical world,” the company says.
Payment is shown upfront and is determined based on effort and complexity of the activity.
“There are more than 8 million Dashers who can reach almost anywhere in the US and who want to earn flexibly beyond delivery. That’s a powerful capability to digitize the physical world,” Ethan Beatty, general manager at DoorDash Tasks, said in a statement.
The new app is currently available in select places in the United States, excluding California, New York City, Seattle, and Colorado.
Uber piloted digital tasks in 2025, allowing drivers and couriers to earn money by recording themselves speaking in or uploading documents written in different languages, as well as uploading everyday images within a specified category.
Data is becoming a critical asset for technology companies, but some are much less transparent about how they collect it.
It recently came into light that players of Pokémon GO, an augmented reality game that went viral in 2016, unknowingly helped to train delivery robots.
However, despite DoorDash’s better transparency, netizens compared the Tasks initiative with dystopian science fiction.
Tom Goodwin, founder of the business transformation consultancy All We Have Is Now, wrote that the Tasks feel “more Black Mirror than Black Mirror,” a reference to a British series.
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