The article discusses Amazon’s ‘Just Walk Out’ technology, which allows customers to skip the checkout line by automatically tracking what items they take from the store and charging their Amazon account. However, the technology relies on a team of 1,000 people in India who review footage from the stores and manually identify items that were not properly detected by the system. This human oversight is necessary to ensure accuracy and prevent loss. The article highlights the irony of a technology meant to eliminate human labor still requiring significant human involvement behind the scenes. It also raises questions about the potential impact on jobs and the ethics of using low-wage workers to support automation that replaces higher-paid roles in other countries. The article suggests that while the ‘Just Walk Out’ technology may be convenient for customers, it comes at a cost that is not immediately apparent.
Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/amazons-just-walk-out-actually-1-000-people-in-india-2024-4