E-Paper
After Pronto row, Snabbit founder says ‘No customer's home ever recorded by us’
Snabbit assured customers that they do not record videos inside homes for AI training, amidst scrutiny of competitor Pronto.
On the same day that the Pronto privacy row exploded online, pulling the Bengaluru startup under scrutiny for recording videos inside customers’ homes, its two biggest competitors rushed to clarify that they had never done anything similar. Both Snabbit and Urban Company have put out statements saying they have never, and don’t plan to, record videos inside customers’ homes to train AI.
What is the Pronto row?
Pronto is a platform that connects users with trained domestic workers. Users can book slots through its app for services like sweeping, utensil washing, kitchen and bathroom cleaning, mopping, laundry and other household chores.
The Bengaluru-based startup providing 10-minute home services came under fire after an Entrackr report said that it was using its staffers to record videos inside customers’ homes to train AI.
“Pronto is seeking to formalize India’s vast informal labor markets and in the process generate data to help train physical AI and robotics,” read a memo from Pronto investor Glade Brook Capital.
(Also read: Bengaluru startup Pronto, under fire for recording videos inside customers’ homes to train AI, clarifies)
What is physical AI?
Physical AI refers to artificial intelligence that can operate in the real world through machines, robots or automated systems — not just chatbots on screens. Simply put, it is AI that will eventually be able to mop floors, clean rooms, cook food, assist the elderly etc.
To build systems like these, companies need enormous amounts of real-world data, which is where Pronto comes in. Companies like Pronto have a vast network of professionals who are already performing these manual tasks like cooking food and mopping floors. By tapping into this network and filming their work to train AI, tech firms can collect data for their physical AI vision.
Snabbit clarifies
Snabbit and Urban Company, two other organizations providing at-home services, rushed to clarify that they were not recording videos inside customers’ homes.
While Urban Company co-founder and CEO Abhiraj Singh Bhal said that his company neither engages in recording inside customers’ homes nor plans to do so in the future, Snabbit founder Aayush Agarwal put out a similar statement on X.
“Since this morning, people have reached out asking whether @just_snabbit does anything similar to the recent reports about a competitor recording inside customers' homes. The answer is clear and unequivocal: We do not,” Agarwal said.
“No customer's home has ever been recorded by us, in any way. When customers let our Experts in, they place immense trust in us: that our Experts are verified, well-trained, and that their privacy is absolute. We don't take that lightly,” he added.
Agarwal said that he had been approached by “several players” to set up a similar workflow — filming videos inside customers’ homes to train AI.
“In the interest of transparency: yes, we were approached by several players and yes, we have studied how this technology works. But understanding something and deploying it in our customers' homes are two very different things. We have not done the latter, have no partnership with anyone in this regard, and have no intention of changing that,” he said.
“We're in the business of home services, and of trust. We intend to keep it that way,” concluded the founder of Snabbit.
(Also read: Urban Company CEO reacts after Pronto faces backlash over home recordings: ‘We do not engage in any such activities')
