Amazon walk out

Gizmodo tells us that Amazon Ditches ‘Just Walk Out’ Checkouts at Its Grocery Stores:

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.

Ah yeah. Pretend it is super high tech, while it is just exploiting labourers remotely, at a lower cost. Amazon doing everything to get rid of labour, or at least lower its cost.

Really this looks like a scam, and I’m not even shocked Amazon did it. Fake it until you make it.

Every sufficiently advanced AI is indistinguishable from yet another Mechanical Turk. We have already seen this with GM Cruise “self-driving” vehicle fleet that were just remote controlled.