DoorDash launched a standalone app for couriers called Tasks. The company's 8 million U.S. gig workers can earn money through the Tasks app by recording themselves performing various tasks.

Data recorded by couriers through the Tasks app will be used to help AI and robotics models better understand the physical world. Available tasks on the Tasks app include folding clothes, handwashing dishes, and making a bed. Tasks involving pruning and repotting plants offer higher payments on the Tasks app.

Couriers can get paid for recording spoken content in other languages through the Tasks app. One listing on the app prompts Spanish speakers to have a natural, unscripted conversation with friends or family on everyday topics. Each gig on the Tasks app offers a payment sum based on effort and complexity.

A DoorDash spokesperson said the app will initially focus on activities that could help train AI or robotics. DoorDash plans to add other types of activities to the Tasks app over time. The Tasks app is a small pilot compared to the general Dasher app, a spokesperson said. The general Dasher app lists a wider array of tasks for couriers to complete between deliveries.

"Look forward to seeing where this goes!" said Andy Fang, cofounder and chief technology officer. Additional tasks will roll out within the regular Dasher app for couriers. Proposed tasks in the Dasher app include checking a restaurant's holiday hours, taking photos of a difficult drop-off location to help drivers navigate, or assisting an autonomous vehicle to get back on the road.

Companies are increasingly seeking to capture physical data about how people move in the world to train AI and robotics. Physical data captured from people performing tasks is used to help humanoid robots learn activities like loading a dishwasher. Last year, Uber piloted an initiative allowing its U.S. gig workers to perform digital tasks such as uploading photos and recordings to train AI for payment.

Instawork, a staffing app that connects businesses with local hourly workers for same-day gigs, has recruited workers in Los Angeles to strap on headbands with a phone mount and record themselves cleaning their homes. Sunday Robotics ships a skill capture glove to people across the country who collect motion data by doing household tasks while wearing the glove. The skill capture glove records movements and is used to train the AI-powered home robot that Sunday Robotics is building.