Recently, the e-commerce giant Amazon suddenly stopped a retail payment technology "Just Walk Out" that had been used for several years, and there were all kinds of speculations on social media for a while.
A number of media outlets in the United States broke a shocking piece of news:
This so-called unmanned intelligent vending technology in which customers walk into the store, take the goods they need and leave, and the system automatically checks out the goods, is actually the result of more than 1,000 low-paid Indian workers behind the monitor, remotely inspecting the goods with human eyes...
The legendary high-level AI intelligent sales technology is essentially a fake AI created by cheap labor?
(Stores using Just Walk Out)
Let's start with the Just Walk Out retail store.
In fact, the process of Just Walk Out technology is not complicated, and it can be understood as an AI intelligent upgrade version of domestic QR code supermarkets.
Customers only need to register on Amazon's platform in advance and enter personal information, such as payment method, personal ID (palm print, etc.).
After that, walk into the supermarket and scan the palm print or QR code
(Scan palm prints)
A "virtual shopping cart" is created for the customer.
(The system creates a virtual shopping cart)
Then the customer comes to the shelf, picks the product they like, takes it away, or changes their mind and puts it back on the shelf.
(The customer takes the product)
Retail stores are equipped with cameras above the shelves that can scan every corner to capture and identify what customers are taking.
(Security camera above the retail store)
After shopping, guests leave directly through the exit.
Just Walk Out's AI system has calculated the goods and payment at this point, and deducted the money directly from the account provided by the customer.
(Leave directly after choosing)
At first glance, this is indeed a worry-free technology, which is much more advanced than the "manual mode" in which you need to scan the code for the goods yourself and then pay.
(Camera connected to the AI system)
If Just Walk Out's AI system can easily complete the purchase of goods by thousands of customers, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is equivalent to the primary version of the intelligent robot MOSS in "The Wandering Earth......
When this technology was first officially announced, it was also vigorously touted, publicized to change the retail environment, and praised the saving of labor costs, even limited to Amazon's own supermarkets, but also settled in American hospitals and Australian universities.
However, the reality is:
People don't always have to be concise and precise when they buy goods, and there are too many unexpected scenarios to deal with.
For example, someone takes a product down and doesn't want it anymore after a while, but they don't get it back to the shelf.
There are also goods that are damaged halfway through and thrown away.
There are also products that are returned to another shelf by customers.
There were also two people who came to shop together, and exchanged some goods along the way, etc.
The AI behind the Just Walk Out camera can't handle the relatively complex scenes that arise in these shopping scenes.
What if AI can't handle it?
Amazon then equipped a large number of remote teams to look at the monitoring screen connected to the camera and use the human eye to conduct post-shopping inspections.
(The scene of the remote team inspecting the goods)
In other words, Just Walk Out still needs "salesmen" to inspect and settle accounts, but these "salespeople" are placed in a remote monitoring room.
The so-called artificial intelligence vending system does not seem to be very intelligent.
It's like a seemingly advanced ATM, but in fact, there are people squatting in it, secretly keeping accounts and issuing banknotes......
(Manual ATM)
After the Just Walk Out system was rolled out in more than 40 Amazon stores in the U.S., it is said that the remote team has hired as many as 1,000 Indian workers in a few years.
Behind every seemingly advanced and unmanned Amazon retail store, there are as many as 25 Indians who are painstakingly checking surveillance cameras, counting various goods, and then deducting money from customer accounts....
(A typical unmanned store)
Recently, Amazon claimed to have removed half of its stores that use the Just Walk Out system.
Regarding the use of Indian workers to assist AI.
An Amazon spokesperson disagreed, arguing:
Every AI system needs to be corrected by humans, and there is no problem that AI systems in other industries will also enable human intervention.
However, according to people familiar with the matter, a 2022 report showed that at least 700 of the more than 1,000 Indian workers in the remote team were responsible for checking surveillance cameras intensively every day to ensure the verification and accounting of shoppers' goods.
With so many workers inspecting goods remotely, it seems that they can do their jobs without AI...
(India Remote Team)
On Thursday, an Amazon spokesperson jumped out again and responded to reports about the Just Walk Out system:
"The claim that the Just Walk Out system relies on Indian human surveillance inspections is false, inaccurate and misleading. ”
"Like many AI systems, our machine learning models are improving and iterating, and we are becoming more advanced in terms of image recognition and algorithms. We will continue to improve the Just Walk Out system. ”
The words of the Amazon spokesman still seem to be about him.
Although AI has not replaced humans, humans have begun to work for AI....