Are there really a thousand Indians working in Amazon stores instead of modern contactless payment technology?

The first publications about the fact that Amazon will close its autonomous stores without cashiers using the Just Walk Out system appeared in the United States, but it did not take long to turn into a hoax in Russia.

In this country, reports surfaced that 1,000 Indians were scanning goods instead of artificial intelligence.

The news was also discussed in the State Duma of Russia – Deputy Aleksejus Govyrinas statedthat it is better for the Russians not to start with Amazon, because “instead of hiring ten cashiers and a security guard, they used a thousand Indians who worked remotely.”

A portal with similar content also appeared in Lithuania info.lt at the beginning of April, he distributed a publication with a catchy name Amazon closes stores without cashiers: instead of AI, thousands of Indians watched over shoppers”.

Technologies without cash registers

Just Walk Out technology sends receipts to customers when they leave the store, so stores equipped with this technology can avoid hiring salespeople.

The system relies on cameras and sensors that were supposed to automatically read customer actions and issue payment receipts.

Barriers are installed at the entrance to the store – you need to scan a digital code on the Amazon Go app to enter the store.

On the sales floor, a shopper can take an item off the shelf and put it in a bag or pocket – then the item is added to the tentative shopping list (if the item is returned to its place, it is removed from the list).

When the person leaves the store through the same barriers, the app records the final shopping list, and a couple of minutes later sends an electronic receipt and debits the Amazon account.

Sensors, cameras and other tools help to monitor what the buyer has purchased, and the purchase process is analyzed by artificial intelligence.

However, several media outlets have reported that there are hundreds of workers in India performing AI analysis locally.

As on the website indicates autonomous system developers, Amazon customers using Just Walk Out technology can walk into a store using Amazon One (where their palm print can be linked to a payment card or account), purchase items, and leave. Purchases are automatically charged.

“Sensors, cameras, and deep learning tools determine what a user takes off the shelf,” the website says.

Assists artificial intelligence (AI) systems

Amazon spokesperson told USA Today explainedthat the technology is based on artificial intelligence and its ability to learn.

To ensure accuracy in any environment, Amazon has created datasets that simulate millions of real-world shopping scenarios, including changes in store format, lighting conditions, and even shopper behavior.

Company representative for this portal statedthat claims about vessels allegedly doing AI work are not accurate.

“The notion that the Just Walk Out technology relies on people watching shoppers live from India is misleading and inaccurate,” an Amazon spokesperson said in an email. by mail to a US news portal.

“As with many artificial intelligence systems, the underlying machine learning model is constantly evolving,” the Amazon spokesperson added.

On the company’s website is writtenthat Just Walk Out is based on technology similar to self-driving cars.

The system needs to be constantly fine-tuned, so even the simplest neural network must first be trained on a large number of examples with already existing data.

Artificial intelligence is like a specially designed algorithm that solves tasks assigned to it and learns from them, providing possible solutions based on previous decisions.

Commenting on the situation to Quartz, an unnamed ex-Amazon employee involved in the development of the Just Walk Out system revealed that his Indian colleagues were responsible for tagging the data to train the AI ​​model, and that this is standard machine learning practice.

The team from India also checked shopping records that the app flagged as potentially fraudulent. People would watch the videos and, if necessary, recalculate the amount on the buyer’s receipt.

Learning and improving

When Just Walk Out launched, almost all purchases required a human review.

in 2022 in the middle computing news portal “The Information” reported, that it was necessary to review only up to 70 percent. purchases.

Former employee of Gizmodo said, that today 20-50 percent purchases have to be reviewed by a human, though that’s still a lot more than Amazon can handle goals check only 5 percent purchases.

But there were other issues that led to the technology being pulled from some Amazon Fresh-branded stores.

Just Walk Out developed sensors that were more reliable than cameras, but prohibitively expensive.

Amazon was having set a goal to reduce the price of one sensor to 100 USD, but the engineering team only managed to reduce it to 350 USD.

Human work is widely used not only to train artificial intelligence, but also to support it and correct its errors.

For example, unmanned taxi cars during the test phase required the intervention of a remote human operator every 7-8 km when the “robot drivers” got into a difficult situation on the road.

And the employees of the famous ChatGPT corrected the bot’s responses, which users marked as inappropriate.

Machine learning is divided into two types: supervised (supervised) and unattended (unsupervised). Machine learning algorithms can learn from data over time, improving the accuracy and efficiency of the entire machine learning model.

It will not disappear from everywhere

To say that the company, disillusioned with the poor workmanship and the failed technology, pulled Just Walk Out from all of its stores would be inaccurate, as it will continue to be used in many locations.

How announces News portal seattletimes.comthe autonomous shopping technology will continue to operate in some smaller Amazon Fresh stores in the UK.

It will continue to be offered to third-party retailers.

What’s more, the brand’s stores are not closing in the US either, but Just Walk Out will be replaced by a new gadget – Dash Carts, smart carts that will scan the products on their own.

Some shopping centers have been using both of these technologies simultaneously for several years.

Coming to us soon

Rimantas Mažulis, head of retail solutions company StrongPoint, in a press release toldhow such decisions will work, which we may soon see in Lithuania as well.

“Various variants of smart shopping carts already exist. The equipment installed in them – smart scales, video cameras, sensors – allows you to record the goods placed in the cart and immediately form a basket of goods, which is paid for when leaving the store.

It’s like self-service checkouts on wheels, where neither the cashier nor the customer needs to scan the goods.

On the screen installed in such a cart, buyers could see not only the list of purchases, but also the plan of the sales hall and individual departments, special offers and other relevant information,” said R. Mažulis.

“Several autonomous stores are already operating in Lithuania. They use advanced technologies and artificial intelligence to ensure independent shopping. The world is experimenting with various autonomous store concepts more and more, and it is only a matter of time when stores without cashiers will become an everyday thing,” asserted R. Mažulis.

15 minutes verdict: missing context. Amazon is not withdrawing Just Walk Out from all stores. Also, the company did not confirm the rumors that Indians always have to work for the autonomous system – they are used only for the smooth process of machine learning and maintenance.

The publication was prepared in 15 minutes in partnership with Metait aims to stop the spread of misleading news on the social network. More about the program and its rules – here.