Supermarket giant Tesco is being mocked online after bringing in ‘VAR-style’ AI action replays at self-service checkouts.
The cameras, which are designed to pick up if an item has not been scanned properly before placed in the bagging area, have been the butt of jokes after viral social media footage showed the new technology in action.
A bird’s-eye-view camera above each of the tills records shoppers scanning and packing their items, using AI to detect if an object has failed to scan.
But critics have complained the new technology could make the already frustrating self-service machines even worse, with more false errors being flagged by AI.
In a video shared to Instagram that has amassed close to three million views, a shopper shows how the new software works.
The man is seen correctly scanning a tin of tuna, but then just moving a bottle of milk over the scanner and into the bagging area to make it look like he has.
The till then showed the shoppers an instant replay of himself failing to scan the products.
Once the AI detects a missed item, a warning message flashes up which reads: ‘The last item wasn’t scanned properly. Remove from bagging area and try again.’
The clip of the item being moved from the basket area to the bagging area is then played on the screen on repeat.
Customers are far from thrilled with the new update, which comes a month after Sainsbury’s introduced similar technology.
One Reddit user said: ‘Can’t believe customer service is now so in the bin you’re constantly treated like a thief.
‘I only use the manned checkouts these days, because I’m not dealing with all the nonsense they’ve added to self checkouts. Constantly asking for staff to come over and approve stuff, as if you’re always trying to get one over on them.’
Another added: ‘The loss from the odd mis-scanned item is probably greater than the cost of this system.’
A third said: ‘Not content with telling me that my item is not in the bagging area when it clearly is, this machine is now going to check whether I was offside or not?’
A shopper also used commentary-style writing to narrate a recent trip to a Sainsbury’s supermarket, in which he said: ‘Bag of salad in Sainsbury’s a couple of days ago, with barcode that was too close to the weld/join of the bag itself – me swiping like a madman – and the overhead VAR showing me the video footage of my wee bald patch as I’m desperately trying to do the right thing.’
Another said: ‘Yes, Geoff, we can clearly see that milk is offside. No scan!’
It comes after 2024 became a record year for shoplifting offences, with 516,971 incidents recorded by police – an increase of around 20 percent on 2023.
But the real number of thefts is feared to be much higher, possibly as many as 20.4 million incidents last year.
The estimate, from the British Retail Consortium, is up from 3.7 million the year before.
In a statement on the new service, Tesco said: ‘We are always looking at technology to make life easier for our customers.
‘We have recently installed a new system at some stores which helps customers using self-service checkouts identify if an item has not been scanned properly, making the checkout process quicker and easier.’