Pronto founder establishes Provision Labs in San Francisco

Anjali Sardana has established Provision Labs, a San Francisco-based venture focused on gathering data to train robotics and physical AI systems. The company intends to collaborate with AI developers by providing datasets derived from real-world tasks, a move that aligns with the increasing industry demand for human-behavior data in robotics training.

The formation of Provision Labs follows a controversial pilot program at Sardana's existing startup, Pronto. That initiative involved service professionals wearing cameras to record household chores—such as laundry and cleaning—to generate training data. While Pronto maintained that the program was voluntary and compliant with data protection standards, it drew significant public scrutiny regarding privacy and the ethics of capturing video inside private homes.

The broader industry is currently seeing a surge in companies, including Human Archive and Awign, that leverage human workforces to create first-person footage for AI development. This market expansion has ignited debates regarding worker consent, privacy protections for individuals captured on film, and the long-term ownership of data produced by workers in emerging economies.

Provision Labs will operate with Sardana serving as CEO, maintaining her leadership role at Pronto simultaneously. The venture represents a shift toward commercializing the infrastructure required to teach robots to navigate and manipulate objects in human environments.