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Amazon plans to remove Just Walk Out from most of its grocery stores and add more grocery stores with Dash Carts, which let shoppers scan items while they shop

and want you to scan all your groceries instead Gintaras Radauskas / Cybernews.com : Amazon phasing out “Just Walk Out” at its Fresh grocery stores Jak Connor / TweakTown : Amazon walks out of its ‘Just Walk Out’ technology after being plagued with issues Evann Gastaldo / Newser : So Much for Amazon's ‘Just Walk Out’ Grocery Checkout Rob Thubron / TechSpot : Amazon is dropping Just Walk Out technology from its grocery stores in favor of Dash Carts James Kinoti / Cryptopolitan : Amazon's “Just Walk Out” Technology Relied on Human Power, Not AI Matt Day / Fortune : Amazon is removing its cashierless Just Walk Out system from its Fresh grocery stores Associated Press : Amazon is removing Just Walk Out technology from its Fresh grocery stores in the U.S. Thom Holwerda / OSnews : Amazon's ‘Just Walk Out’ checkout system consisted of 1000 people in India watching you shop Brooke Masters / Financial Times : Shoplifting, self-checkout and the limits of AI John Gruber / Daring Fireball : Amazon Ditches ‘Just Walk Out’ Checkouts at Its Grocery Stores Wes Davis / The Verge : Amazon gives up on no-checkout shopping in its grocery stores New York Daily News : Amazon ditching cashier-less ‘Just Walk Out’ technology at Fresh grocery stores PYMNTS.com : Amazon Fresh to Replace ‘Just Walk Out’ With Smart Carts Alex Halverson / Seattle Business Journal : Amazon to remove Just Walk Out technology from Fresh grocery stores Threads: Paul Rietschka / @paul_rietschka : Surprised this failed.  The problem with groceries in the US is, first, the extreme post-pandemic gouging, and second, the overwhelmingly shabby experience.  Whole Foods, despite cost and market positioning, is just so so.  Safeway, which has raised prices to be on par with Whole Foods, is shabby and depressing beyond belief. … Mastodon: Paris Marx / @parismarx@mastodon.online : Yet another of the supposedly revolutionary developments promised by tech companies is being abandoned.  —  Amazon said the days of human cashiers were numbered.  Now it's pulling its “just walk out” automated systems from existing stores.  —  https://www.theinformation.com/ ... … X: Max Burns / @themaxburns : Amazon billed its “Just Walk Out” stores as some triumph of AI. In reality, it was powered by thousands of low-paid Indian workers manually adding up items in your cart as you shopped. How insanely dystopian. https://gizmodo.com/... Ashwin Rodrigues / @shwinyo : “AI” is often shorthand for A Indian guy Dan Barker / @danbarker : Amazon Fresh is killing off its ‘Just Walk Out’ technology, and has admitted it relied on 1,000 staff in India to check purchases before sending receipts. I'd suggested this in 2021, based on the odd time gap between shopping & getting a receipt. https://gizmodo.com/... [image] Alex Orlov / @alex_orlov_ : crazy how all these things that “just work” to reduce labour are actually progressively more complex ways of concealing labour. the theology of labour power pulling the strings under the puppet of technological progress [image] David Dayen / @ddayen : Holy crap, what??? This is like that old Mechanical Turk “computer” that played chess that was actually just a guy inside https://gizmodo.com/... [image] Katie / @focusfronting : [image] Tom Gara / @tomgara : OK I read the article it's based on and yes, this claim is nonsense Lyle Buford / @usa_comrade : [image] @swiftonsecurity : “Is your product artificial intelligence or just a human overseas getting paid to do it?” [image] Ari Cohn / @aricohn : Everything is the Mechanical Turk, part one billion. https://gizmodo.com/... [image] @grosdoriane : > create completely automated process that people claim is impossible > claim it's not a Mechanical Turk > Impossible automated process isn't even working > Reveal The Turk Tale as old as time. [image] @kriswolfheart : EVERY. FUCKING. TIME. https://twitter.com/... @garrytan : Honestly it makes me sad to see a Big Tech firm ruined by a professional managerial class that decided to use fake AI, deliver a terrible product, and poison an entire market (autonomous checkout) when an earnest Computer Vision-driven approach could have reached profitable [image] Maebe Bright Sunshine / @kindasortamaebe : why is the secret sauce to any magical new “tech” actually just “thousands of exploited people all over the world” Tom Gara / @tomgara : Gizmodo's claim here that Amazon's automated checkout actually depended on people in India watching a live stream of you shopping is insane and sounds completely implausible, although I can't read the story it's based on so I guess anything's possible https://gizmodo.com/... Kristy Tillman / @kristyt : Yes a lot of “automated” technology is actually low wage overseas workers. Sonny Bunch / @sonnybunch : This is like the joke about how ChatGPT is just a guy banging out responses to prompts, but for real life. https://gizmodo.com/... [image] Matt Darling / @besttrousers : I don't think it's dystopian to hire people in developing countries to do tasks. [image] Pernil Escobar / @beerswithandres : These guys called it like 5 years ago lmaaaaaaaooooo [video] Tom Gara / @tomgara : The Information article says Amazon “relied on humans to double-check transactions”, never says anything about watching as you shop. The people in India's jobs “included manually reviewing transactions & labeling images from videos to train Just Walk Out's machine learning model” Tom Gara / @tomgara : My guess is it's actually that Amazon had guys in India review clips after the fact to to either check for accuracy / train the system on its mistakes, or troubleshoot when things didn't work properly. No way they had to watch shoppers live and tally it up! @ranting_trans : This is so fucking funny. Somewhere, an engineer got an assignment to build a “checkout-less” supermarket, and the only solution they had was “uhhhh get some people to watch you through a camera and write down your order.” And then someone ELSE said “yea sounds good lets do it” @davidgerard : EVERY FUCKIN TIME https://gizmodo.com/... [image] @moreperfectus : Amazon bragged about its worker-less stores where you could just walk out with items as a triumph of technology. Now they're moving away from the model. Because the truth is that thousands of low-paid Indian workers reviewed most purchases one at a time. https://gizmodo.com/... Theo Wayt / @theo_wayt : Our past reporting on the role of human reviewers in Amazon's Just Walk Out tech is getting a lot of attention today. For the record, here's what we reported last May, along with the company's comment. https://www.theinformation.com/ ... [image] @vxunderground : Amazon has announced they're phasing out their checkout-less grocery stores. The “Just Walk Out” technology, which was labeled as automatic, was actually 1,000+ Indian employees monitoring you as you walked through the store. https://gizmodo.com/... Theo Wayt / @theo_wayt : New🛒🍌: Amazon's high-tech checkout system, Just Walk Out, has been a key part of its push into grocery stores. Not anymore. The company's top grocery exec told me he's dropping the tech from new stores and removing it from many existing ones in favor of smart shopping carts. [image] Christopher McGhee / @christophmcghee : Years of work to simply reinvent scan as you shop, a feature that has been in every British supermarket for years. https://www.theinformation.com/ ... Corey Quinn / @quinnypig : Six years and billions of dollars later, Amazon admits defeat: they can't get “Just Walk Out” technology to show ads. Gary Marcus / @garymarcus : Another once massively hyped tech bites the dust: Amazon's “Just Walk Out”. Shades of Cruise, they needed loads of humans behind the scenes 🤷‍♂️ Breaking news @theinformation RIP 2018-2024 [image] Gary Marcus / @garymarcus : 🪦AI (or nearly dead for the foreseeable future AI) • Amazon Just Walk Out • Apple's Car • Cruise as L5 self-driving • Facebook M • Facebook solving Fake News (as promised to US Senate 2019) • Google Duplex • Tesla fleets of robotaxis • radiologist replacement What... LinkedIn: Martin Heubel : #Amazon kills ‘Just Walk Out’ (JWO) technology in majority of Grocery stores 🛒🥑  —  I said it before, and I'll say it again: … Ariel Guersenzvaig : Unsurprisingly, just like those robotaxis weren't really self-driving but relied on human assistance from people working remotely in an operations center … Erika Hall : “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. … Chris Weston : So, it seems that this tech was being hand-cranked all along - no doubt there was some element of training models, but giving up on the idea … Forums: Hacker News : Amazon ditches ‘just walk out’ checkouts at its grocery stores r/Futurology : Amazon Ditches ‘Just Walk Out’ Checkouts at Its Grocery Stores r/Cyberpunk : Amazon Ditches ‘Just Walk Out’ Checkouts - which relied on more than 1000 people in India watching you as you shopped r/nova : Amazon Ditches ‘Just Walk Out’ Checkouts at Its Grocery Stores Beehaw : Amazon Ditches ‘Just Walk Out’ Checkouts at Its Grocery Stores Msmash / Slashdot : Amazon Ditches ‘Just Walk Out’ Checkouts at Its Grocery Stores

The Information Theo Wayt

Discussion

  • @paul_rietschka Paul Rietschka on threads
    Surprised this failed.  The problem with groceries in the US is, first, the extreme post-pandemic gouging, and second, the overwhelmingly shabby experience.  Whole Foods, despite cost and market positioning, is just so so.  Safeway, which has raised prices to be on par with Whole…
  • @parismarx@mastodon.online Paris Marx on mastodon
    Yet another of the supposedly revolutionary developments promised by tech companies is being abandoned.  —  Amazon said the days of human cashiers were numbered.  Now it's pulling its “just walk out” automated systems from existing stores.  —  https://www.theinformation.com/ ... …
  • @themaxburns Max Burns on x
    Amazon billed its “Just Walk Out” stores as some triumph of AI. In reality, it was powered by thousands of low-paid Indian workers manually adding up items in your cart as you shopped. How insanely dystopian. https://gizmodo.com/...
  • @shwinyo Ashwin Rodrigues on x
    “AI” is often shorthand for A Indian guy
  • @danbarker Dan Barker on x
    Amazon Fresh is killing off its ‘Just Walk Out’ technology, and has admitted it relied on 1,000 staff in India to check purchases before sending receipts. I'd suggested this in 2021, based on the odd time gap between shopping & getting a receipt. https://gizmodo.com/... [image]
  • @alex_orlov_ Alex Orlov on x
    crazy how all these things that “just work” to reduce labour are actually progressively more complex ways of concealing labour. the theology of labour power pulling the strings under the puppet of technological progress [image]
  • @ddayen David Dayen on x
    Holy crap, what??? This is like that old Mechanical Turk “computer” that played chess that was actually just a guy inside https://gizmodo.com/... [image]
  • @vxunderground @vxunderground on x
    Amazon has announced they're phasing out their checkout-less grocery stores. The “Just Walk Out” technology, which was labeled as automatic, was actually 1,000+ Indian employees monitoring you as you walked through the store. https://gizmodo.com/...
  • @focusfronting Katie on x
    [image]
  • @tomgara Tom Gara on x
    OK I read the article it's based on and yes, this claim is nonsense
  • @usa_comrade Lyle Buford on x
    [image]
  • @swiftonsecurity @swiftonsecurity on x
    “Is your product artificial intelligence or just a human overseas getting paid to do it?” [image]
  • @aricohn Ari Cohn on x
    Everything is the Mechanical Turk, part one billion. https://gizmodo.com/... [image]
  • @grosdoriane @grosdoriane on x
    > create completely automated process that people claim is impossible > claim it's not a Mechanical Turk > Impossible automated process isn't even working > Reveal The Turk Tale as old as time. [image]
  • @kriswolfheart @kriswolfheart on x
    EVERY. FUCKING. TIME. https://twitter.com/...
  • @theo_wayt Theo Wayt on x
    Our past reporting on the role of human reviewers in Amazon's Just Walk Out tech is getting a lot of attention today. For the record, here's what we reported last May, along with the company's comment. https://www.theinformation.com/ ... [image]
  • @garrytan @garrytan on x
    Honestly it makes me sad to see a Big Tech firm ruined by a professional managerial class that decided to use fake AI, deliver a terrible product, and poison an entire market (autonomous checkout) when an earnest Computer Vision-driven approach could have reached profitable [imag…
  • @kindasortamaebe Maebe Bright Sunshine on x
    why is the secret sauce to any magical new “tech” actually just “thousands of exploited people all over the world”
  • @tomgara Tom Gara on x
    Gizmodo's claim here that Amazon's automated checkout actually depended on people in India watching a live stream of you shopping is insane and sounds completely implausible, although I can't read the story it's based on so I guess anything's possible https://gizmodo.com/...
  • @kristyt Kristy Tillman on x
    Yes a lot of “automated” technology is actually low wage overseas workers.
  • @sonnybunch Sonny Bunch on x
    This is like the joke about how ChatGPT is just a guy banging out responses to prompts, but for real life. https://gizmodo.com/... [image]
  • @besttrousers Matt Darling on x
    I don't think it's dystopian to hire people in developing countries to do tasks. [image]
  • @beerswithandres Pernil Escobar on x
    These guys called it like 5 years ago lmaaaaaaaooooo [video]
  • @tomgara Tom Gara on x
    The Information article says Amazon “relied on humans to double-check transactions”, never says anything about watching as you shop. The people in India's jobs “included manually reviewing transactions & labeling images from videos to train Just Walk Out's machine learning model”
  • @tomgara Tom Gara on x
    My guess is it's actually that Amazon had guys in India review clips after the fact to to either check for accuracy / train the system on its mistakes, or troubleshoot when things didn't work properly. No way they had to watch shoppers live and tally it up!
  • @ranting_trans @ranting_trans on x
    This is so fucking funny. Somewhere, an engineer got an assignment to build a “checkout-less” supermarket, and the only solution they had was “uhhhh get some people to watch you through a camera and write down your order.” And then someone ELSE said “yea sounds good lets do it”
  • @davidgerard @davidgerard on x
    EVERY FUCKIN TIME https://gizmodo.com/... [image]
  • @moreperfectus @moreperfectus on x
    Amazon bragged about its worker-less stores where you could just walk out with items as a triumph of technology. Now they're moving away from the model. Because the truth is that thousands of low-paid Indian workers reviewed most purchases one at a time. https://gizmodo.com/...
  • @theo_wayt Theo Wayt on x
    New🛒🍌: Amazon's high-tech checkout system, Just Walk Out, has been a key part of its push into grocery stores. Not anymore. The company's top grocery exec told me he's dropping the tech from new stores and removing it from many existing ones in favor of smart shopping carts. [ima…
  • @christophmcghee Christopher McGhee on x
    Years of work to simply reinvent scan as you shop, a feature that has been in every British supermarket for years. https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
  • @quinnypig Corey Quinn on x
    Six years and billions of dollars later, Amazon admits defeat: they can't get “Just Walk Out” technology to show ads.
  • @garymarcus Gary Marcus on x
    Another once massively hyped tech bites the dust: Amazon's “Just Walk Out”. Shades of Cruise, they needed loads of humans behind the scenes 🤷‍♂️ Breaking news @theinformation RIP 2018-2024 [image]
  • @garymarcus Gary Marcus on x
    🪦AI (or nearly dead for the foreseeable future AI) • Amazon Just Walk Out • Apple's Car • Cruise as L5 self-driving • Facebook M • Facebook solving Fake News (as promised to US Senate 2019) • Google Duplex • Tesla fleets of robotaxis • radiologist replacement What...
  • r/Futurology r on reddit
    Amazon Ditches ‘Just Walk Out’ Checkouts at Its Grocery Stores
  • r/Cyberpunk r on reddit
    Amazon Ditches ‘Just Walk Out’ Checkouts - which relied on more than 1000 people in India watching you as you shopped
  • r/nova r on reddit
    Amazon Ditches ‘Just Walk Out’ Checkouts at Its Grocery Stores