Have you ever seen the security room at a Walmart? If you ever thought you weren’t on camera in a Walmart, you were. It’s like a casino.
That particular camera looks like it is in a locking case, usually for hight theft items. The bizarre thing here is why the extra security on Sugar in the Raw and what looks like maybe Stevia.
Not a locked case, it’s a normal shelf…also not a normal camera and not for security.
Do you get it now?
Being earnest here, I don’t. What’s the difference between a normal camera and a security camera? If it’s used for surge pricing, absolutely it’s terrible. But if it’s being used for shoplifting like cameras have been used in stores for forever, I’m not grasping the big deal of these ones. Is it just the potential of them using it for bad (which honestly they probably will)? There’s cameras all over aisles, checkout areas already
Notice how there’s more than a lense there? Notice the angle the whole unit is going to be monitoring? It’s not for security, and the biggest concern isn’t even about immoral business practices like surge pricing or even more targeted advertising and coercive “advertising”.
This is for dynamic pricing
Pretty soon they’ll just assign a drone to follow each customer. Well, not EACH customer, that would be weird.
Just the minorities.
Walmart shoppers will put up with anything
I mean, yeah.
Wal-Mart caters to people who will buy cheaper things no matter what, whether that’s because they’re desperate or disinterested in how that impacts their world.
It’s like saying NASCAR fans like seeing cars go fast; that’s basically the whole point.
Many are in food deserts and have no other choice.
The cameras beep at you too
Perfect, draw my attention so I remember to fuck with it
Why?
So that you look and they get a direct shot of your face.
I believe it. How I didn’t think of it is another question. Wow.
I have no clue. I felt like I was stealing something. There was a screen attached to it with lights showing me that I was on camera.
What the actual fuck
My first thoughts exactly word for word.
The closest store to my house is Walmart, so unfortunately I go there pretty regularly. They just rennovated. I’m going to have to see if they did this.
It must take a lot of compute to have AI review all those cameras and calculate surge pricing. I wonder where they will find it?
The cost of AI to do all this will be higher than any profits they could possibly make, but the managers who came up with this shot already committed and in the end they can just put that cost on the consumers anyway
One man’s cost is another man’s profit.
At some point, Walmart execs sitting on a pile of NVIDIA stock won’t see this as a loss for them. It will just become an excuse to trim spending - on healthcare, on wages, on wholesale costs, on maintenance of their fleets and facilities - everywhere that isn’t AI.
You vastly underestimate how cheap and prevalent that sort of AI stuff already is. The upfront costs are high, and there’s usually some sort of ongoing support cost, but it’s been much cheaper than people since ~2020 and it’s only been getting more prevalent and miniaturized.
I’d encourage you to peruse https://everseen.com/solutions for some dystopian horrorshow. That is one of the companies that Kroger and Walmart ‘leverage their capabilities from’.
There’s also the b2b quid pro quo investment schemes already mentioned.
And also that retail insurers are one of the major ones helping to ‘drive adoption of these innovative ermergent technologies’ as both the retailers and insurance are constantly trying to
scam each other for profit‘maximize the potential earnings from their synergistic, mutually beneficial, relationship’. For further readingYou do understand that many of the claims made about what AI can do ate extremely overstated at best?
AI companies have an extreme circular investment scheme going on and for the bilkuins invested with only a fraction of the running cost coming in, even investors are starting to get itchy. I give AI a full 6 more months before the entire bubble (or ponzi scheme even, at this point) pops and will come crashing down, taking enyitr economies with it.
You do understand that many of the claims made about what AI can do ate extremely overstated at best?
Yes, and that is arguably the bigger problem. They’re very careful to not mention any hard numbers on the actual reliability, but if we give it a very generous 80% accuracy in detecting “customer shrinkage” and assume that the error is split evenly into false positives and false negatives that’s a 10% of every time you go into a store to buy things getting put into the shoplifter database(assuming the facial recognition is 100% accurate, which again: fucking lol). At which point the retailer’s internal reports show an increase in the amount of customer shrinkage.
This creates a vicious feedback loop of increased shoplifting reports, increased demand for shoplifting solutions, increased false data, increased shoplifting reports, etc… This resulted in a lot of store closures back in 21-22 and is a crucial part of that “circular investment scheme” you mention.
Of course the error rate isn’t evenly distributed. It’s heavily concentrated on people that “look like criminals” ie, poor, black, young, hispanic, disabled, etc.
The entire “western” economy is ~90% ponzi scheme. The “AI bubble” is a bit lazier of one than usual but it’s not to play out any different than the “dot com” bubble.
Never really got the appeal of walmart, they have only had some I wanted maybe twice over the last 20 years.
Oh well, yet another reason to never go there.
I’m not sure how many shop there because it appeals to them
only by necessity for me. the next cheapest store is on the other side of town with at leat a couple dozen traffic lights and intersections between us.
For many smaller towns, it’s the store. And for larger towns, it’s still a 1-shop stop. If you’re busy and need to grab gym shorts, a hammer, groceries, and a new router you can do it all in one place on the way home from.work.
For many people it’s nearest grocery
People are stealing sugar?
I’m not a scientist or anything, but that seems like really bad news
I’m guessing the cameras track your gaze, and they use that to decide what people are most interested in.
Seems easier to just look at how many were rung up at the till…
Is for live dynamic pricing. Its why all the tagsaredigital now.
Oops, my greasy hands just smeared over the lens!
… Whoops, this one too!
Metal scouring pads are only a few aisles over. Aren’t they worried about people being able to so easily reach their expensive equipment?
was gonna ask, what aisle is electrical tape in?
Silly me. Better take it down and toss it in the toilet.
If I ever end up back in a Walmart and see these, I’m definitely setting something in front of them.
Pinch of thermite should do it
I was thinking a box of cereal, but I like the cut of your jib!
Sharpies are just a few aisles over
Right next to the white-out
Interesting.
If it’s only a couple, could be surveillance. If they’re all over the place, they’re probably doing stock checking or shopper heuristics. They’re probably local AI just reporting back either where people are stopping, what they’re picking or if the shelves need attn.
If you wanted surveillance you’re better off with 4k zone cameras in the ceiling, cover the store with a couple dozen wide angle
Porque no los dos?
bandwidth on hundreds of wireless cameras.
hell bandwith on hundreds of wired cameras for that matter :)
updoot for tacobell tho
AI has determined that people like to give shopper cameras the finger and fuck with them
Walk around with mask and reflective lenses.
Cut pieces of paper with a 90 degree fold.
Place them on the shelf with the fold in front of the camera.
Bonus pts if you buy a cheap box of lil (low power to avoid accusations of attempted property damage) magnets to keep em there.
I stopped going to the major grocery chain here because they got rid of their 50% off stickers for food about to go past the sell by date.
If they did this I wouldnt just stop going there, Id fucking nuke it.
