How AI could see Shoppers mistaken for Shoplifters

There are fears that new AI technology in convenience stores could mistake British shoppers for “shoplifting suspects”.

In 2022, shopkeepers battled a wave of thefts, with shoplifting rates rising 27% across 10 of the UK’s largest cities.

This has led stores to turn to AI-based surveillance.

AI company Veesion currently operates in over 250 UK stores like Budgens, Spar and Nisa. It has developed software that scans and monitors the movements of every customer.

If it detects five certain gestures, the shop owner will be alerted to a possible shoplifter and their image will be saved.

Gestures range from placing items in bags and consuming items in the store to placing items underneath a pram while in the store.

Veesion’s UK sales manager Hamza Saleem said:

“Our system is automatically detecting theft, which is suspicious behaviours and these suspicious behaviours can be a range of different things. 

“So, for example, somebody put in items in their bag which could be a backpack or handbag, or even a shopping bag if the client wants to detect all these bags for information. 

“There’s also other suspicious behaviours, such as opening up products because a lot of store owners are walking around the store and they’re seeing open products.

“They’ll like to see where this has happened.

“The main goal is to be able to stop them before they leave the store.

“But of course, not every single person has that time to be able to go ahead and stop them right then and there.

“So the next time that they come in the videos will actually stay on a group chat for the store so that they can come back to it.

“And if they see that person again they can quickly go back to that video and say, ‘Hey, guys.  I’ve seen you in the store before, please don’t come back in’.”

Since the adoption of Veesion and Facewatch, there has been backlash from civil liberties campaigners about the dangers of allowing the public to be filmed by private companies. 

Big Brother Watch says such tactics breach the rights of shoppers.

The group’s senior advocacy officer Madeline Stone told Daily Mail:

“Collecting and storing records of shoppers’ movements is deeply intrusive and will inevitably lead to innocent members of the public being wrongly accused of theft. 

“An algorithm cannot reliably assess ‘normal’ behaviour and is likely to discriminate against individuals with disabilities or physical or mental health issues.

“More needs to be done to stop shoplifting but an experimental, AI-powered surveillance technology used in the total absence of legislation, safeguards or scrutiny is no substitute for a well-resourced police force.”

According to Veesion, their technology has helped “thousands of retailers around the world to reduce up to 60% of shrinkage” and disputes that the programme tramples over civil liberties or profiles customers.

Mr Saleem continued: “Retailers can choose what notifications they want to receive, so they can literally just keep on the notification about putting items into their clothes and leave the rest off – which would mean less people are flagged. 

“They don’t have to go ahead and intercept them right there and then they can always review the video and then see what happened after if the person actually pays for the items after being flagged.”

In an attempt to curb shoplifting, the likes of Sainsbury’s, Sports Direct and John Lewis have introduced new security features including self-checkout barriers and facial recognition cameras.

In March 2023, it emerged that Frasers Group had installed biometric cameras that scan shoppers’ faces and check them against a database of suspected criminals.

Facewatch claims they use “proprietary cloud-based facial recognition systems” which “will send an alert the instant a subject of interest enters your premises”.

The system’s introduction sparked uproar among MPs and civil liberties campaigners. It led to an investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The investigation theorised that no regulatory action against using the technology was required as it was “satisfied the company has a legitimate purpose for using people’s information for the detection and prevention of crime”.

Facewatch was set up by a group of ex-policemen who wanted to give shopkeepers more power in the fight against criminals. 

However, the technology has been criticised by Big Brother Watch.

A spokesperson said: “Rolling out highly intrusive AI-powered surveillance tools like live facial recognition will not stop crime but will do grave damage to our privacy. 

“Using these privately operated mass surveillance systems in supermarkets normalises airport-style security for buying a pint of milk and turns all shoppers into suspects.

“Not only is this surveillance tech dangerously Orwellian but it is also highly inaccurate, putting entirely innocent people at risk of being wrongly branded as criminals.”

A spokesperson for Spar UK said: “Spar is a symbol retailer group made up of company-owned outlets and independent shops. 

“As a business Spar UK does not have a relationship with Veesion or use the technology in any of its owned outlets however independent retailers are responsible for the relationships and decisions they make on who to work with.”