Amazon is not abandoning its Just Walk Out system after all. The checkout-free shopping technology is set to become more efficient with the help of multimodal AI.
New lease of life for Just Walk Out
A new advanced AI model increases accuracy and makes the technology scalable to new locations, Amazon announces with renewed courage. In April, by contrast, the company reported that it was abandoning the cameras and AI sensors that had made the Just Walk Out system possible. The system proved to be too expensive, but more importantly not yet effective. Amazon admitted that thousands of IT staff in India still had to watch over the stores and assist in training the AI models.
Nevertheless, Amazon now seems to be making another attempt, presumably because many of its competitors in the supermarket sector are still offering checkout-free stores, so demand for the technology remains strong. Indeed, in a blog post, the Seattle giant states that the system will be aimed at “external parties” rather than its own supermarkets. The bar is set high, however: Amazon claims that the number of checkout-free stores will double in 2024.
