What is with a smile? If you train Meta virtual reality avatars, it could be $ 50 an hour.
The technology giant is recruiting adults through data collection and labeling of Appen to spend hours in front of cameras and sensors to “improve the virtual reality of the future”.
Meta’s avatars have gone a long way since they were widely mocked by internet almost three years ago.
Now, with 2025 described internally as “the most critical year” of Meta for its metavese ambitions, the company bets that the hyper-realistic Digital avatars can lead its next wave of virtual and increased technologies, quest helmets with Ray-Ban intelligent glasses.
But to get there, Meta needs more data.
Inside Project Warhol
The company pays freelancers to record their smiles, their movements and their small conversation in the context of an effort to collect data called “Project Warhol”, managed by Appen, which lists Meta as a customer in its consent forms.
Meta confirmed to Business Insider that Project Warhol is one of its continuous efforts to train codec avatars – a research initiative announced for the first time publicly in 2019 which aims to create digital photorealist replicas in real time of people to use in virtual and increased reality.
Codec avatars are a key technology for Meta’s vision of “metric telepresence”, a term which says that society allows a social presence which is “indistinguishable from reality” during virtual interactions.
A Meta spokesperson told BI that he has been studying Avatar data collection that has been similar for several years. Project Warhol seems to be the last cycle of this current effort.
The recruitment equipment invites anyone over the age of 18 to participate in paid sessions to “help improve avatars”. The project is divided into two studies – the “human movement” and the “group conversations” – both which should start in September in Meta’s Pittsburgh Research Facility.
In the study on human movement, participants would be recorded “imitating facial expressions, reading sentences, making hand gestures”, while cameras, helmets and sensors capture their movements from all angles.
The study of group conversations would bring together two or three participants to “engage in light -up conversations and improvisation activities”. Researchers aim to capture natural speech, gestures and micro-expression to build avatars that are more “achieving and immersive” in social circles.
A year with high issues for Meta
The project is available in a year of crisis for Meta Reality Labs, the division that oversees avatars, helmets and smart glasses. It has accumulated more than $ 60 billion in losses since 2020, including a record loss of operation of $ 4.97 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024.
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In an internal November memo, reported for the first time by BI, Meta technology director, Andrew Bosworth, said that 2025 would be crucial for Metaversse’s success or failure. He warned the staff that the ambitious metavese of the company could be memorized as a “legendary mishap” if they failed.
In his memo, Bosworth stressed the need to stimulate sales and commitment, especially in the mixed worlds of reality and horizon. He also said that the reality laboratories division planned to launch half a dozen portable devices powered by the AI, although no specific detail has been provided.
In 2022, Mark Zuckerberg’s avatar made a lot of fun, sharing it with another version a few days later. Mark Zuckerberg
In April, BI reported that Meta dismissed a non -disclosed number of employees of its reality division, including teams working on VR Gaming and the application of supernatural fitness. Dan Reed, the chief of the Reality Labs, announced his departure for weeks later after almost 11 years with the company.
The name of the Appen project seems to be a nod to Andy Warhol, the artist born in Pittsburgh who said that everyone would have “15 minutes of renown”.
Appen refused a request for comments from Business Insider on the project.
Humans behind the scenes
Project Warhol is not the only example of a meta that turns to human work to form its technology.
Bi previously reported that the company had enlisted entrepreneurs through a data label start -up scale to test how her chatbot reacts to emotional tones, sensitive subjects and fictitious personalities.
And it’s not just Meta. Last year, Tesla paid up to $ 48 per hour for “data collection operators” to wear movement capture combinations and VR headsets while performing repetitive physical tasks to help form her humanoid robot, Optimus.
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