Source: OSNews
Article note: Retail tech _always_ turns out to work that way. Stocking robots turn out to be "some underpaid folks with a camera feed and some controls on the other side of the planet." Delivery robots turn out to be the same (UK has starships which are _semi_ autonomous, but for every several operating there is a human tender remotely "helping" them.)
Even Uber's "We'd totally be profitable if we could replace gig workers with self-driving vehicles" investor-bait con is basically the same dumb trick.
Amazon is phasing out its checkout-less grocery stores with “Just Walk Out” technology, first reported by The Information Tuesday. The company’s senior vice president of grocery stores says they’re moving away from Just Walk Out, which relied on cameras and sensors to track what people were leaving the store with.
Just over half of Amazon Fresh stores are equipped with Just Walk Out. The technology allows customers to skip checkout altogether by scanning a QR code when they enter the store. Though it seemed completely automated, Just Walk Out relied on more than 1,000 people in India watching and labeling videos to ensure accurate checkouts. The cashiers were simply moved off-site, and they watched you as you shopped.
↫ Maxwell Zeff
Behind every Silicon Valley innovation are underpaid poor people.