💰 Get paid to do your dishes

In partnership with 

It’s Wednesday, {{first_name | friend}}. This one is plane wild. You’re booking a last-minute flight for a funeral. You ask the airline’s chatbot about bereavement fares. It tells you: Buy the full-price ticket now, submit for the discount within 90 days, and they’ll refund the difference.

✈️ So you do exactly that. Over $1,600. You go. You come home. You file. The airline says: Our bot was wrong. Their legal defense? The chatbot was, quote, “a separate legal entity responsible for its own actions.” Don’t blame us. Blame the robot. This actually happened.

When it lost the legal challenge, how much did the airline pay: A) Nothing, B) $50 and an apology, C) $812 in damages and fees or D) $20,000 for audacity? Take your guess, the final boarding call for the answer is at the end.

🎯 You’re a target right now: A simple Google search reveals your home address, phone number and family details. Data brokers sell this to scammers every single day. I use Incogni to wipe my profile automatically. Get 60% off with code KIM60. More below.*

💧Tomorrow, another issue of my weekly AI newsletter drops. We’re still warming up the email servers, so if you’re signed up, look for the blue water drop in your inbox or other folders. Not signed up yet? Head to SplashOfAI.com. Every Thursday, one issue. Five minutes. All signal, no noise. — Kim

📬 Someone forwarded this to you? Smart friend. Want it in your own inbox instead of waiting on them? Sign up here. It’s free, and I promise not to spam you.

⚡ TL;DR

📖 Read time: 3 minutes

A woman is sitting at a corner table at Urth Caffé in downtown Los Angeles. Next to her is a large black bag. People keep walking up. She hands each one a package and instructions. They leave.

She’s not a drug dealer. She’s a manager for Instawork, handing out headbands with phone mounts. The job? Go home. Strap this to your forehead. Do your chores. Collect $20 an hour.

I’m serious.

AI learned by consuming the internet. Robots can’t learn that way. They need to watch how human hands move. How you grip a sponge. How your wrist turns when you fold a towel. So companies are paying real people to film tasks at home, in real time.

One participant, Salvador Arciga, told the Los Angeles Times (paywall link): “I need to do chores anyway. Now I get a chance to get paid to do it.” Same, Salvador. Same. 

And if washing dishes for robots sounds too weird to be real, buckle up. It gets better.

THE CHORE CAM, $20/hour: Go to Instawork and search for AI data collection or robot training tasks in your area. The footage trains robots. The paycheck hits your bank. Instawork also has a referral program. You and a friend both earn a cash bonus when they complete their first shift.  

DATA ANNOTATOR, $15 to $30/hour: AI needs humans to label images, flag bad responses and rate search results. No experience required. Zero. CrowdGen and Stellar AI hire with no set schedule. Work between meetings. Work when the kids are asleep. Work in your pajamas. Nobody cares.

AI VOICE ACTOR, $10 to $18/hour: AI needs to sound human. Companies pay people to read sentences, record conversations and rate voice authenticity. No studio. No experience. Just a quiet room and a clear voice. Search “AI voice training” on CrowdGen or Mindrift.

IMPROV ACTOR / AI TRAINER, Up to $74/hour: This is the one that stopped me cold. Companies hire people to role-play real-life scenarios, so AI learns how humans handle awkward conversations, angry customers and complicated situations. You’re not acting. You’re teaching. Learn more here.

THE EXPERT TRACK, Serious money for serious credentials: Micro1 is a completely different animal. They recruit professionals with real-world expertise to train AI on how to actually think, not how to mop a floor. We’re talking doctors and nurses reviewing medical AI responses. Attorneys building legal training datasets. Financial analysts teaching AI to interpret budgets and taxes. Engineers. Teachers. Writers. Linguists. Artists. All remote. All flexible. Pay reflects your expertise, not your mop skills. Browse current openings and apply here.

🚰 The other day, my son was freaking out at the sight of the plates, cups, bowls, etc. stacked in the sink. I put my hands on his shoulders and said, “Dishes not the time to panic.” He was not amused.

Iran escalated the cyberwar, wiping out a major U.S. medical company and erasing data from 200,000 of its devices. Big Tech could be next. Google, Amazon, Microsoft are in jeopardy. Here’s what this means for you.

📺 Watch on YouTube →

🎧 Or search “Komando” wherever you get your podcasts. I’m everywhere.

📘 Defeated by manuals: You’ll never guess why GM recalled 5,482 vehicles across 40 models. Ready? The electronic owner’s manual never downloaded, thanks to a factory setup mistake. We gave cars giant screens and somehow lost the booklet. That means Cadillacs, Silverados, Hummers, even Corvettes shipped without the basic instructions for safe operation. No crashes reported, thankfully, but wow, what a 2026 smart car problem. 

Don’t fall for it: Don’t you love it when scammers put on a little tie and pretend to be customer support? Crooks built a fake Gmail security check for all 1.8 billion users, which walks you through four neat little steps to hand over your contacts, GPS, clipboard data and even login codes. The sneakiest part? Installed as a web app, it looks like a real Google tool and hides the browser bar. If you fell for it: Go to myaccount.google.com and revoke any unfamiliar connections, change your password and turn on two-step verification.

🌐 Airlines track your searches and charge you more for it: Every time you check the same flight twice, the price creeps up. I use ExpressVPN to mask my location, so their dynamic pricing can’t touch me. Get four extra months right now.*

Parked road rage: A San Francisco Waymo rider says a crazy person spent six minutes pounding on the windows, yanking at doors and threatening to kill the three passengers for paying a robot. In other words, the San Francisco version of cage diving with great white sharks. A human driver would’ve peeled out. The Waymo wouldn’t move (paywall link) with someone nearby. Why? Support says it’s policy. Incredible engineering, humbled by a shirtless final boss on the curb. Well, hey, we didn’t get killer robots. We got robots that politely wait to be bullied. Waymo’s next update: defense turrets. 

📞 Hang up first: Ever get one of those calls that makes your stomach drop for half a second? That’s the scammers’ business model. Personalized attempts are up 65%, and fraud crews love using crumbs from your social accounts to sound terrifyingly real. Mom’s maiden name, your favorite restaurant, your dog, soon there’s a sobbing call about a crash or kidnapping. Urgency is the catch, it boggles the brain to act irrationally. A family safe word turns this whole con into a very embarrassing performance.

👨🏼‍🦲 Hair today, gone tomorrow: So the next move in baldness prevention is basically sci-fi. The big hairy idea? Pay a few thousand bucks to freeze your best follicles now, then clone the useful cells later when your hairline starts retreating. HairClone claims one follicle could become more than 1 million cells. Here’s the catch: You’re buying a freezer spot for future you and hoping science catches up in the next few years. Fun fact: 90% of bald men have a comb. They just can’t part with it.

Say goodbye to boring backgrounds and hello to picture-perfect photos. Google’s Gemini edits them for free.

Listen on Komando.com →

🎧 Or search “Komando” wherever you get your podcasts. I’m everywhere.

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Your key fob can cool your car before you even open the door. Press and hold the unlock button twice (hold that second press), and the windows drop automatically on most modern vehicles. Some models include the sunroof. Check the owner’s manual for your specific make. No more blast of hot air to the face. You’re welcome.

Your iPad screen can fit more than you think: There’s a setting that shrinks everything slightly to create more space. Not tiny, still readable. Go to Settings > Display & Brightness > Display Zoom and switch to More Space. Hit the checkmark, let it reset. Same screen, more room. Once you try it, you won’t go back.

🔄 Windows will restart your computer mid-session if you let it: Stop that from happening. Go to Settings > Windows Update > Advanced options > Active hours and switch to Manually. Set up to an 18-hour window where updates can’t force a restart. You’ll come back to your work, not a loading screen. FYI, you can still shut down normally, and it’ll install then. On your schedule, not Microsoft’s.

Those Post-it notes on your monitor have a digital version: It’s called Stickies, and it’s built into your Mac. Open it and press ⌘ + N for a new note, and type whatever you need. Drag it anywhere on screen. They stay on top of every window, so they can’t disappear behind other apps. You have to physically move them out of the way. Change the color and font from the top menu, too. Windows folks, your version is Sticky Notes. 

🛫 Face fast pass: I would like to formally and publically apologize to every dad (including mine in heaven) who says get to the airport absurdly early. In Austin, security lines were spilling outside while 38,000 people tried to fly out, and even PreCheck wasn’t saving everybody. Sneaky workaround? TSA PreCheck Touchless ID, a separate face-scan lane at some airports. You have to opt in before check-in through your airline app, or you’re standing there with the rest of the cattle. Learn more here.

Wouldn’t it be great if that manager always hovering around your desk was a robot?

Meet Lenovo’s AI Workmate. It sits on your desk, tracks your notes, gestures and tasks, and watches you in real time. Forgot what you’re supposed to be doing? It knows. Boss asks something urgent? It jumps in with the answer before you can open your mouth.

Nothing like a little plastic coworker making sure you never think for yourself again. All local. All fast. All up in your business.

🔜 Coming tomorrow: Your TV may be off, but your electric bill says otherwise. I’ll show you how phantom power quietly drains up to $200 a year and the simple $15 fix that stops your appliances from freeloading. I’ve got your back tomorrow morning.

✈️ The answer: C) $812 in damages and court fees. When Jake Moffatt, a grieving passenger, was given the runaround by Air Canada, he took them to tribunal. Air Canada lost, spectacularly.

If your company’s AI chatbot tells a customer something wrong, you own it. Full stop. You can’t say the bot was a “separate legal entity.” You can’t hide behind “The correct info was elsewhere on the website.” Next time an AI chatbot tells you something that seems too good to be true, screenshot it.

This way, you can prove it’s not maple leaf. 🍁 (Get it? Canada. Tough crowd today.) 

🛑 Take back your privacy: Look at this note from reader Mark: “I’ve been using Incogni for several months and it has made a great difference.” Incogni handles every legal removal request for you automatically. Use code KIM60 to get 60% off right now.*

🌱 You’re building something solid. Even if it’s invisible today. — Kim

Kim Komando • Komando.com • 510+ radio stations • Trusted by millions daily

🏆 THE KIM CHALLENGE: Forward this to ONE person who needs to hear it today. Pick the person who popped into your head while reading. You know who it is.

Photo credit(s): Gemini, FEPPO, @Lenovo via YouTube

Companies and products denoted by an asterisk (*) within this publication are paid sponsors or advertisements. As an Amazon Associate, the publisher earns from qualifying purchases. Statements regarding products denoted by a double asterisk (**) have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration; such products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This newsletter is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, medical, or professional advice of any kind. Readers should consult with a qualified professional before making any decisions based on this content. The publisher disclaims all liability for any loss, damage, or injury resulting from the use of or reliance on the information contained herein.