NEW FACIAL RECOGNITION AI TECH WILL ANALYZE BEHAVIOR TO HELP STOP SHOPLIFTING
Shoplifting has been a problem since we had ancient marketplaces. While I’m not sure it’s the world’s “oldest profession,” it’s definitely old. There’s just something about being able to steal and not get caught that’s a thrill. Or maybe it’s simply pure greed to make money that’s not yours. But then there’s also the possibility it’s because someone is hungry and really needs that apple. But shoplifting has been turned into a virtual boogieman by retailers in the last couple years, only to be refuted as not really that much of a problem. Or, at least, no more than it ever was. But now it seems we need extra surveillance, in the form of a new, facial recognition AI technology that aims to stop…. Inside-job shoplifting.
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IN PARTICULAR, THE NEW TECH WILL LOOK AT HOW CUSTOMERS AND STAFF BEHAVE WITH EACH OTHER
Now by inside-job, I don’t mean employees that are stealing from their employers. But rather, employees who collude with the actual thieves to make it easier, or even risk-free, to shoplift at will. And it’s been on the market as of last month, when Corsight AI began offering the new tech to clients across the world to stop “sweethearting,” which could mean anything from store staff giving inappropriate discounts to friends, giving them things for free, or even enabling them to steal. Corsight, located in Israel, has already been one of many companies offering AI surveillance products to identify serial shoplifting, and creating a blacklist of said shoplifters to stop them at the door.
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BUT WHAT IF CUSTOMERS OR STAFF AREN’T NEUROTYPICAL, OR PEOPLE WORK ON COMMISSION?
But the new tech will take monitoring to a whole to analytical level, watching how every customer interacts with all staff over a long period of time to find behavioral anomalies to flag. Behavioral anomalies really means suspicious behavior that could mean a retailer is getting fleeced by an inside-job. But I’m not really very comfortable with this trend. What if a customer or staffer is not neuro-typical, which will be more likely as each year passes? What if staff who work on commission (meaning they need to build up relationships with regular customers) look too friendly and it’s interpreted to be suspicious?
The list of concerns go on and on. But we’re here anyway, even though we already know that retailers don’t actually lose $80 billion a year to shoplifting, and that the supposed 29% of that is from “sweethearting” is likely even more bogus.
