--- title: "Amazon Abandons Grocery Stores Where You Just Walk Out With Stuff After It Turns Out Its “AI” Was Powered by 1,000 Human Contractors" description: "Amazon is giving up with its unusual \"Just Walk Out\" technology, which allowed customers to simply walk out with their stuff." date: "2024-04-02" modified: "2024-04-02" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/amazon-abandons-ai-stores" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "Amazon" - "artificial intelligence" - "retail" - "the digest" --- # Amazon Abandons Grocery Stores Where You Just Walk Out With Stuff After It Turns Out Its “AI” Was Powered by 1,000 Human Contractors ![Amazon is giving up with its unusual "Just Walk Out" technology, which allowed customers to simply walk out with their stuff.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Just Walked Away Amazon is giving up with its unusual "Just Walk Out" technology, [*The Information* reports](), which allowed customers to simply put their shopping into their bags and leave the store without having to get in line at the checkout. The tech, which was only available at half of the e-commerce giant's Amazon Fresh stores, used a host of cameras and sensors to track what shoppers left the store with. But instead of closing the technological loop with pure automation and AI, the company also had to rely on an [army of over 1,000 workers in India](), who were acting as remote cashiers. In other words, Just Walk Out — a highly invasive marketing ploy to get more customers to shop at its stores while actively undercutting the local job market — will be missed by few. ## Dystopian Retail Instead of Just Walk Out, Amazon is now betting on scanners and screens embedded in the shopping cart called Dash Carts. The tech they're replacing, however, was far more ambitious. In 2018, Amazon [started rolling out]() its Just Walk Out system, which was meant to [revolutionize the retail experience with AI](), worldwide. Several [other companies](), including Walmart, followed suit by announcing similar cashier-less stores. But over five years later, the system has seemingly become more of a burden. According to *The Information*, the tech was simply far too slow and too expensive to implement, with outsourced cashiers reportedly taking hours to send back data so customers could get their receipts. Apart from relying on cheap, outsourced labor instead of paying fair wages locally, critics have also long [questioned]() Amazon's practice of collecting a horde of sensitive data, including customers' in-store behavior, turning a quick visit to the store into a [privacy nightmare](). Last year, the consumer advocacy group Surveillance Technology Oversight Project [filed a class action lawsuit]() against Amazon, accusing the company of failing to inform customers that it was secretly selling data to Starbucks for profit. Despite its aggressive push into the retail market, Amazon's grocery store footprint in the US is still dwarfed by those of its competitors, including Walmart, Costco, and Kroger, as [*Gizmodo* points out](). Whether Dash Carts will turn out to be any less invasive from a data privacy standpoint remains to be seen. **More on Amazon:** *[Amazon Kindle Lock Screens Are Showing Ads for AI-Generated Books]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()