“To me, it feels like working in your own grave, while you make your own casket.” Every morning before his shift at a textile factory in #Nagpur, 30-year old Ashish Narayan, a machine technician, straps a small recording device to his forehead. For the next several hours, the #camera tracks and records everything he does. From stitching workers to technicians and machine operators, workers across factories are being asked to wear such devices. Often, they do not know exactly what is being recorded, where the #footage is going, or how it may eventually be used. But in many cases, they are rarely in a position to refuse or reduce participation, especially in sectors where jobs are insecure. They are paid anywhere between Rs 200 and Rs 350 per hour. This whole exercise is part of a growing global push by AI and #robotics companies to gather what is being called “egocentric data”. That means 1st-person recordings of human activity that can teach #machines how people perform physical tasks. Reported by: @imsoumyarendra Produced and edited by: @NotAboutPrachi Script and voiceover: @shameenalauddin