2024-02-18 04:01:37
Jumbo wants to use artificial intelligence in its fight against shoplifting. This may be a fantastic solution for the supermarket chain, but critics fear another step in the field of mass surveillance.
More than 100 million euros worth of products are stolen at Jumbo every year. That is a persistent problem for the supermarket chain. One of the ways in which Jumbo wants to combat this is with AI.
“There will be more camera surveillance in all stores and there will be more and smarter random checks at self-checkouts,” Jumbo recently announced.
In a press release, it writes that AI technology makes targeted sampling possible at the self-checkout. Normally, such a sample, which checks whether the customer has properly scanned all the groceries in the basket, is more or less random.
Jumbo expects a lot from AI that recognizes “deviant behavior” of customers in the store. A trial with this technology has already started in various stores. That lasts a few months. It is not known exactly how the AI works.
Jumbo spokesperson Eunice Koekkoek only wants to say that the technology “can identify deviations in shopping behavior and purchasing patterns”. On this basis, an employee can choose to carry out a targeted sample.
How exactly do AI control systems work?
Retail expert Eelco Hos explained this at the beginning of this year Brabants Dagblad what these types of AI control systems could look like. Cameras could check what the customer buys and scans. If a product is not scanned, the self-scanning device asks the customer to do so.
Another possibility is that an employee is warned by the computer if someone does not pay for everything. A camera at the checkout then takes a photo of the shopping cart at the checkout.
“It is important to note that this is done anonymously,” Hos said. “For example, customers’ faces are not photographed or they will be blurred.” According to him, images are not kept, but are only used to signal.
AI emphatically does not look at individual characteristics
It is not known whether Jumbo also does it this way. “To determine the deviations, individual characteristics of the customers are not relevant,” says the Jumbo spokesperson. “The algorithms of AI software emphatically do not look at this. We continue to monitor this carefully. Everything we do in the field of AI naturally complies with the applicable laws and regulations, such as in the field of privacy protection.”
It is still unknown whether Jumbo will use artificial intelligence on a large scale to combat shoplifting. The supermarket chain is first trying out the technology for three months. If the trial proves successful, Jumbo will introduce the measures nationally.
By the way, Jumbo is not the only store experimenting with AI. The French company Veesion offers a smart box for cameras that can detect that someone puts something in their pocket.
Veesion announced last year that mainly independent entrepreneurs use the technology. In the Netherlands too. “All of them are independently owned franchisees we work with,” the company said. “Shoplifting is an immediate problem for the owners of those stores.”
Privacy watchdog Dutch Data Protection Authority cannot yet say anything about the new trial with AI. “We can only make a judgment about it once we have investigated it,” says spokesperson Elizabeth Palandeng. “And we cannot say in advance whether we will do that.”
‘Proven time and time again that it works poorly’
There are concerns about the use of the technology. For example, policy advisor Nadia Benaissa of privacy organization Bits of Freedom called the trial disproportionate. “Jumbo chooses to cut back on store staff and install all kinds of self-checkouts. Then shoplifting increases and this must be solved with surveillance technology.”
According to Benaissa, the risks for citizens are great. Not only in the case of this test, but also when the technology is used by other stores. “You only have to make one wrong move and you can be wrongly classified as suspicious. Time and again it has been shown that this type of profiling technology works poorly and is full of prejudices. In the meantime, the privacy of citizens is being increasingly restricted with these types of experiments.”
MEP Kim van Sparrentak, who is closely involved in the development of the European AI law, also expresses her concerns. “It is of course absurd if stores start monitoring your behavior and following you through the store. We will soon be confronted with surveillance by AI on a daily basis, purely because supermarkets want to save money.”
She also wonders to what extent certain behavior is seen as deviant. Because what if you stay in a store for a long time and pay for only a few products? Is that suspicious? “It can lead to bizarre results. Will someone who has difficulty walking and walks slowly soon be systematically a fraudster? Or will you soon be extensively checked after the cash register every time you are in a hurry?”
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