ETtech Explainer: What Pronto’s new video recording feature means for your privacy

On-demand domestic services startup Pronto is drawing heat over its latest business move. The company is reportedly using real-life videos collected from customers’ homes to train its physical AI and robotics models.

This means Pronto’s service professionals — who provide cleaning, washing, and meal preparation services — record their activities, generating videos that can help train physical AI systems.

Following privacy concerns, the founders of rival platforms Urban Company and Snabbit clarified that they do not engage in such practices and have no plans to do so.

ETtech decodes Pronto’s modus operandi and what this means for user privacy.

What exactly is Pronto doing?

Pronto is running a pilot for its AI-related initiatives, where its professionals wear small cameras which record tasks like washing dishes and folding laundry in customers’ homes. Entrackr was the first to report the development, citing an internal memo from Pronto’s investor, Glade Brook Capital.

Responding to ET’s queries, the Bengaluru-based company said the pilot was initiated recently. “It is a strictly opt-in feature, available only to customers who actively choose it at the time of booking. The pilot currently reaches less than 0.01% of our customers,” the company said.

While users raised safety and privacy concerns after the news broke, Pronto reiterated that no recording occurs unless the customer explicitly opts into the program.

What happens to the data?

While reports suggested Pronto is partnering with an AI lab to leverage this data, the company denied any such collaboration and stated that the recorded videos are deleted after 48 hours.

“Customers enrolled in the pilot pay for this feature and receive anonymized footage in the app, which is available for 48 hours. There are specific use cases where customers prefer a recording — such as wanting a task done while they are away and having the reassurance of seeing afterward that the work was done as expected,” the…

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