Recall what I've wrote in Technological slavery:
Advanced cameras can do much more than just recording video and relying on the human's interpretation [...] They can also detect your behavior and mark it as potentially "suspicious" [...] But anything at all can be considered "suspicious". Let's look at some of the common things that I've seen being banned: selling stuff on the streets, feeding birds, wearing a mask, walking the dog (!), driving without seat belts, etc. Sometimes people get fined for these things, but they have to be found out first. The intelligent monitoring system removes this requirement, letting the psychopathic elites fine anyone for anything they imagine.
Somehow I missed shoplifting - should have expected that they're going to go after that first, since it strikes right at the heart of the capitalist system.
Like a scene out of the movie “Minority Report,” algorithms analyze security-camera footage and alert staff about potential thieves via a smartphone app. The goal is prevention; if the target is approached and asked if they need help, there’s a good chance the theft never happens.
As with every such AI application, we will end up with massive amounts of false positives - which hilariously means random people will get asked if they "need help" all the time. But that's not the important part here, so let's look further:
Vaak made headlines last year when it helped to nab a shoplifter at a convenience store in Yokohama. Vaak had set up its software in the shop as a test case, which picked up on previously undetected shoplifting activity. The perpetrator was arrested a few days later.
So there has already been a victim. Success for AI! No thief will get away anymore! Except, of course, all the capitalists...
“I thought then, ‘Ah, at last!’” said Vaak founder Ryo Tanaka, 30. “We took an important step closer to a society where crime can be prevented with AI.”
Yeah, starting with shoplifting, we can now expect them to go after all the "suspicious" behaviors I've described in Technological slavery. Think about that the next time your dog shits on the grass...
Shoplifting cost the global retail industry about $34 billion in lost sales in 2017 — the biggest source of shrinkage, according to a report from Tyco Retail Solutions. While that amounts to approximately 2 percent of revenue, it can make a huge difference in an industry known for razor-thin margins.
Good. The retail industry
consists mostly of deceptively selling people shit they don't need. Capitalism has made a world where your worth is determined by the shiny new things you've got, and the less money going towards that, the better.
The opportunity is huge. Retailers are projected to invest $200 billion in new technology this year, according to Gartner Inc., as they become more open to embracing technology to meet consumer needs
200 billion! Recall the quote above which says the capitalists only lost 34 billion through shoplifting. So they will pay five times more than that to spy on customers, which means they would be better off if they just left them alone! That's assuming the technology will actually prevent ALL shoplifting which of course is unrealistic. Most likely they will end up 10 or 20 times worse off. But if they are so eager to burn capitalism to the ground, so be it - I certainly don't mind.
The company began selling a market-ready version of its shoplifting-detection software this month, and is aiming to be in 100,000 stores across Japan in three years.
They're set in their ways though. You will be spied on and that's it!
The ability to detect and analyze unusual human behavior also has other applications. Vaak is developing a video-based self-checkout system, and wants to use the videos to collect information on how consumers interact with items in the store to help shops display products more effectively.
And you thought regular advertising was bad - now you will deal with what is pretty much mind control.
Beyond retail, Tanaka envisions using the video software in public spaces and train platforms to detect suspicious behavior or suicide jumpers.
Yeah, they admit to it - we're going to have to endure a full-on technological slavery system. And stop pretending you care about suicide, capitalists - since it's your system that mostly causes them in the first place!
To recap - for now, you will be AI-spied on in shops allegedly to prevent shoplifting (even though the real thieves are capitalists, and we're just taking back what's ours). Now, many shoplifters only do so because they're too poor to afford necessities - and by taking that option away from them, you're killing them. What causes poverty? Capitalism, of course - and it will get worse due to the robot revolution. Low-skilled jobs are mostly going away, as I've wrote in Capitalism will die - but will it take us with it? And yet, this murderous system is being praised even by the very people it harms - how insane.