One-sentence headline summary

San Francisco startup Kled AI has raised $6.5 million at a $150 million valuation to pay everyday users for personal data used to train artificial intelligence and robotics.

Key points

• Kled AI, founded by 22-year-old Avi Patel, compensates users for uploading specific photos and videos from newer iPhones.
• The platform has reached 200,000 users and processes approximately 5 million data uploads daily.
• Investors include Waymo founder Sebastian Thrun and the venture fund of billionaire Bernard Arnault.
• Data is sold to AI, robotics, and self-driving vehicle companies to improve model accuracy and performance.
• Top contributors can earn significant monthly income, with some users reporting earnings of up to $7,400 per month.

Kled AI represents a shift toward a "consented data" model, challenging the industry standard of scraping information without user compensation. This approach provides a new income stream for individuals while offering tech companies a verified, high-quality alternative to unvetted training data.