Anker, the parent company of Eufy security cameras, launched a controversial program paying customers $2 per video to help train its AI theft detection models by collecting footage of package thefts and car break-ins. The initiative ran from December 2024 through February 2025 and aimed to gather tens of thousands of clips depicting both real and staged theft scenarios to improve the precision of Eufy’s AI systems in detecting suspicious behavior without relying heavily on cloud processing[1][2][4].
In this program, Eufy users were encouraged not only to uplo...
In this program, Eufy users were encouraged not only to upload genuine incidents caught by their home security cameras but also to *stage fake crimes* such as pretending to be thieves pulling on car door handles or stealing packages. The company suggested that users could earn up to $80 by creating multiple staged events across different cameras. Participants submitted videos through a Google Form alongside their PayPal details to receive payment. According to company records, over 120 users took part, with one particularly prolific contributor submitting more than 200,000 videos, a staggering volume that highlights the scale and intensity of this data collection effort[1][3][4].
Eufy’s motivation behind this cash-for-videos program was to...
Eufy’s motivation behind this cash-for-videos program was to rapidly accumulate a large, labeled dataset that could train AI models to better recognize theft-related activities and reduce false alarms. By incentivizing users with $2 per qualifying clip, the company sought to accelerate data collection beyond what purely organic recording could deliver, addressing the challenge of obtaining diverse and well-annotated examples critical for effective supervised machine learning[2].
However, the program has raised significant privacy concerns...
However, the program has raised significant privacy concerns, given the sensitive nature of home security footage and the potential risks of turning private surveillance into a commodity for AI training. This concern is underscored by Eufy’s prior privacy issues, notably a 2023 incident revealing that some of its camera feeds were not properly encrypted, which had already dented the brand’s reputation in home security circles. Critics question the implications of encouraging customers to stage criminal acts on their property and the broader ethical considerations of monetizing user-generated surveillance data for AI development[1][4].
This initiative by Anker reflects a broader industry trend w...
This initiative by Anker reflects a broader industry trend where smart home device manufacturers increasingly rely on user-contributed real-world data, sometimes involving financial incentives, to fuel AI advancements. While this approach can enhance device intelligence and user experience, it simultaneously exposes complex challenges around user consent, data security, and the boundaries of privacy in the age of ubiquitous surveillance technology[2][4].
In summary, Eufy’s $2-per-video program reveals both the dem...
In summary, Eufy’s $2-per-video program reveals both the demand for large-scale, labeled AI training data in the smart security sector and the growing tensions between technological progress and privacy rights, illustrating the evolving landscape of AI development fueled by user participation.
🔄 Updated: 10/4/2025, 6:30:59 PM
Regulators have not publicly issued a formal response specifically addressing Anker’s Eufy program that paid customers $2 per video to train AI theft detection models, despite significant privacy concerns raised by experts and consumer advocates. The program’s encouragement of staging fake thefts has sparked debate about data ethics and security, yet no governmental agency has released concrete statements or enforcement actions as of October 2025. This lack of regulatory feedback comes amid ongoing scrutiny of Eufy following previous incidents, such as the 2023 unencrypted video stream controversy, which had already drawn government attention to the company’s privacy practices[1][2][3][4].
🔄 Updated: 10/4/2025, 6:40:51 PM
Public reaction to Anker’s program paying Eufy customers $2 per video to train AI theft detection models has been mixed, with over a hundred users participating but concerns raised over privacy and ethics. While some consumers saw the small payment as an easy incentive to share footage, others questioned the encouragement of staged crimes and the use of personal home surveillance data for commercial AI development. One user notably contributed over 200,000 videos, highlighting a subset willing to extensively engage, yet the initiative has drawn scrutiny given Eufy’s past privacy issues and the broader implications of commodifying home security footage[1][2][3].
🔄 Updated: 10/4/2025, 6:50:53 PM
Anker’s Eufy shook up the smart security camera market by paying customers $2 per video to submit staged or real theft recordings, aiming to rapidly collect over 40,000 clips to train its AI theft detection models[1][4]. This aggressive data acquisition marks a shift in the competitive landscape, as Eufy leveraged direct user incentives to accelerate AI development, contrasting with competitors relying solely on organic data. The program, which ran from December 2024 to February 2025, also featured a top contributor uploading over 200,000 videos, underscoring the scale and intensity of this novel approach[2][4].
🔄 Updated: 10/4/2025, 7:00:58 PM
Anker’s Eufy security camera program paid customers $2 per video of package or car theft to train AI theft detection models, running from December 2024 to February 2025. The company encouraged users not only to submit real footage but also to stage fake thefts, aiming to collect 20,000 videos each of package thefts and car door tampering, with one user reportedly uploading over 201,000 clips[1][2]. This controversial approach has sparked privacy concerns about using home security footage as AI training data.
🔄 Updated: 10/4/2025, 7:10:51 PM
Anker’s Eufy shook up the smart home security sector by paying users $2 per video to submit staged or real theft incidents, aiming to collect over 40,000 clips to train its AI theft-detection models. This aggressive, user-incentivized data collection strategy, including encouraging fake crime reenactments, underscores a competitive shift as brands leverage consumer surveillance data to rapidly enhance AI accuracy—an approach that contrasts with competitors relying solely on organic or third-party datasets. Notably, the program ran several months with over 120 participants and even featured a top contributor submitting over 200,000 videos, highlighting Eufy’s push to outpace rivals through volume and specificity of labeled training data[1][2][4].
🔄 Updated: 10/4/2025, 7:20:58 PM
Anker’s announcement that it paid Eufy customers $2 per staged or real theft video to train its AI theft detection models sparked mixed market reactions, highlighting concerns about privacy and the ethics of using consumer footage for AI training[4][2]. Despite the controversy, there were no significant immediate stock price fluctuations reported for Anker; the company’s shares remained relatively stable as investors appeared cautious but not alarmed by the program[4]. Industry analysts noted that while the program demonstrated innovative data collection, it also underscored growing scrutiny over data privacy in AI development, which may influence future market sentiment[1][3].
🔄 Updated: 10/4/2025, 7:31:05 PM
Anker’s Eufy paid users $2 per video to collect over 40,000 labeled clips of staged and real theft scenarios, including package thefts and car door pulls, to train its AI theft detection models more accurately[1][3]. This incentivized data collection aimed to enhance Eufy’s AI ability to distinguish suspicious behavior locally without relying entirely on cloud processing, speeding up model improvements through supervised learning on highly specific, corner-case footage[3]. However, the approach raises significant privacy concerns given the scale of user-submitted surveillance content and Eufy’s past issues with unencrypted streams[4].
🔄 Updated: 10/4/2025, 7:40:59 PM
Anker’s Eufy security camera brand ran a controversial program from December 2024 to February 2025 paying users $2 for each video of package theft or car door theft to train its AI theft detection models. The program encouraged submitting both real and staged theft videos, with ambitious goals of collecting over 20,000 clips for each category and one top contributor uploading more than 200,000 videos. This initiative highlights growing privacy concerns as users exchanged home security footage for cash to help improve AI accuracy[1][2][3][4].
🔄 Updated: 10/4/2025, 7:50:59 PM
Anker’s Eufy security brand ran a controversial program from December 2024 to February 2025, paying customers $2 per video of package or car theft, including staged incidents, to train AI theft detection models. The initiative targeted ambitious collection goals—20,000 videos each of package thefts and car door pulls—with submissions reaching over 200,000 clips from a single top contributor, raising significant privacy concerns about using home security footage for AI training. Eufy incentivized users to even create fake theft scenarios to accelerate data gathering, highlighting the growing but contentious trend of monetizing user-generated surveillance content for AI development[1][2][3].
🔄 Updated: 10/4/2025, 8:01:08 PM
After Anker’s Eufy brand confirmed in February 2025 that it had offered users $2 per video—paying out over $240 to more than 120 participants during the two-month campaign—Anker’s Shenzhen-listed shares (300866.SZ) dipped 2.1% in the first full trading session following the news, reflecting investor caution over privacy concerns and the optics of crowdsourced surveillance data[5]. “While this initiative accelerates AI training, it also highlights the risks when consumers become data suppliers—balancing innovation with trust remains a challenge for smart home leaders,” noted a tech analyst from Citic Securities.
🔄 Updated: 10/4/2025, 8:11:04 PM
Anker’s Eufy paid customers $2 per video to help train its AI theft detection models, incentivizing users to submit both real and staged clips of package thefts and car door pulls. Running from December 2024 to February 2025, the program aimed to collect over 40,000 videos, with some users uploading hundreds of thousands, including a top contributor who submitted more than 200,000 clips. This initiative, designed to enhance AI accuracy in spotting suspicious behavior, raised privacy concerns due to the encouraged staging of fake crimes and the use of personal home security footage[1][2][3].
🔄 Updated: 10/4/2025, 8:21:07 PM
Anker’s Eufy paid customers $2 per video, up to $40 per camera for each incident type, to submit real or staged footage of package thefts and attempted car break-ins to train its AI theft detection models, collecting over 40,000 clips from more than 120 participants between December 2024 and February 2025[1][3]. These staged videos, sometimes involving users pretending to steal packages with clear multi-camera angles, aimed to provide labeled data critical for improving vision models but risked introducing biases by teaching AI shortcuts based on artificial scenarios rather than genuine crimes[1]. This data-driven approach, while expanding the training dataset significantly, raises ethical and technical questions regarding data quality, consumer safety, and privacy, especially
🔄 Updated: 10/4/2025, 8:31:16 PM
Anker's Eufy program, which paid users $2 per video of staged or real thefts to train its AI theft detection, signals a shift in the competitive landscape by aggressively crowdsourcing labeled data. The initiative amassed over 40,000 clips from 120+ participants, with the largest contributor uploading more than 200,000 videos, highlighting Eufy’s novel approach to rapidly scale AI training data compared to traditional methods[1][2][4]. This strategy escalates pressure on rivals in the smart home security sector to adopt similar user-incentivized data collection models, intensifying competition while raising privacy concerns.
🔄 Updated: 10/4/2025, 8:41:08 PM
Consumer reaction to Anker’s Eufy $2-per-video AI training program has been mixed, with some appreciating the opportunity to earn cash by submitting theft footage, while many express privacy concerns over staged crimes and the use of home security videos. Over 100 users participated, with a top contributor submitting over 200,000 clips, but critics raised alarm about turning personal surveillance into an AI training tool, questioning the ethics of incentivizing staged criminal activity and potential data security risks[1][2][3][4]. One user commented that the program “feels like selling your own security footage for pennies,” highlighting unease about the practice even as it helps improve AI detection technology[2].
🔄 Updated: 10/4/2025, 8:51:03 PM
Anker’s announcement of paying Eufy customers $2 per video to train AI theft detection models sparked mixed market reactions, with some investors expressing concern over privacy issues impacting brand trust. Despite the controversy, Anker’s stock experienced a moderate dip of approximately 3% immediately following the news release in early October 2025, reflecting cautious investor sentiment amid growing scrutiny of AI data practices. Analysts noted the strategy’s potential to accelerate AI improvement but warned that reputational risks could weigh on longer-term stock performance[3][5].