Customers left confused after shopping at Amazon Go

Amazon has launched its AI-powered checkout-free supermarket today after more than a year of testing, prompting confusion and humor in the Twitterverse. 

The ‘Amazon Go’ supermarket has no checkouts and instead works by tracking what users buy with AI-powered cameras and weight sensors, but has lead to some users accidentally shoplifting.

The grocery store on the bottom floor of the company’s Seattle headquarters allows shoppers to scan their smartphone with the Amazon Go app at a turnstile, pick out the items they want and leave.

The tech mega-company still has some kinks to work out.

A CNBC tech reporter accidentally shoplifted a yogurt when the cameras failed to notice it, but the company responded ‘it’s on us’ with a winking emoji.

Other Twitter users made jokes about how long the line was to get into the checkout-free grocery store  – which promised no queue to exit.

Still others joked about how Seattle created another way to ‘avoid human interaction’ with the cashier-free method.

Another user questioned how he entered the store and somehow spent over $50 in just 57 seconds.

A mom planned a prank on her son, saying she couldn’t wait to take him to the new store, grab items, and then ‘run out like a bat outta hell and make him think mommy is one baaaaaaaaaaaad mommy’.

 However, overall it was a pretty successful day for Amazon’s latest experiment. 

By combining computer vision, machine learning algorithms and sensors, the online retail giant can tell what people have purchased and charges their Amazon account.

If someone puts an item back, they aren’t charged.

Long lines can deter shoppers, so a company that figures out how to eradicate wait times will have an advantage. 

Amazon is launching its artificial-intelligence-powered supermarket (pictured) today after more than a year of testing. The 'Amazon Go' shop has no checkouts and instead works by tracking what users buy with AI-powered cameras 

Amazon is launching its artificial-intelligence-powered supermarket (pictured) today after more than a year of testing. The ‘Amazon Go’ shop has no checkouts and instead works by tracking what users buy with AI-powered cameras 

By combining computer vision, machine learning algorithms and sensors, the online retail giant can tell what people have purchased and charges their Amazon account

By combining computer vision, machine learning algorithms and sensors, the online retail giant can tell what people have purchased and charges their Amazon account

HOW AMAZON GO SHOPS WORK

To start shopping, customers must scan an Amazon Go smartphone app and pass through a gated turnstile.

Ready-to-eat lunch items greet shoppers when they enter.

Deeper into the store, shoppers can find a small selection of grocery items, including meats and meal kits.

An Amazon employee checks IDs in the store’s wine and beer section.

Sleek black cameras monitoring from above and weight sensors in the shelves help Amazon determine exactly what people take.

If someone passes back through the gates with an item, his or her associated account is charged.

If a shopper puts an item back on the shelf, Amazon removes it from his or her virtual cart.

Much of the store will feel familiar to shoppers, aside from the check-out process.

Amazon, famous for dynamic pricing online, has printed price tags just as traditional brick-and-mortar stores do.  

The Seattle shop is not without employees – Amazon says there will be people there making food, stocking shelves and helping customers.

It will offer ready-to-eat breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks, as well as some grocery staples like bread, milk, cheese and chocolates.

It will also have Amazon Meal Kits – packages that contain all the ingredients required to cook a selection of meals chosen by the customer. 

The Amazon Go shop is not the world’s first cashier-less store – grocery firm BingoBox has several unmanned supermarkets across China.

The stores aren’t as sophisticated as Amazon’s shop, using RFID tags scanned at a standard self-checkout machine rather than AI tracking systems.

At about 1,800 square feet (170 square metres), the Amazon Go store adds to the company’s growing physical store presence and its expansion into groceries.

The convenience-style store opened to Amazon employees on December 5, 2016 in a test phase. 

At the time, Amazon said it expected members of the public could begin using the store in early 2017.

But there have been challenges, according to a person familiar with the matter. 

These included correctly identifying shoppers with similar body types, the person said. 

The grocery store on the bottom floor of the company's Seattle headquarters allows shoppers to scan their smartphone with the Amazon Go app at a turnstile (pictured)

The grocery store on the bottom floor of the company’s Seattle headquarters allows shoppers to scan their smartphone with the Amazon Go app at a turnstile (pictured)

After customers have scanned through the store's turnstiles via their phones, they can pick out the items they want and leave without going through a checkout system

After customers have scanned through the store’s turnstiles via their phones, they can pick out the items they want and leave without going through a checkout system

When children were brought into the store during the trial, they caused havoc by moving items to incorrect places, the person added.

Last year the firm purchased organic grocer Whole Foods and its 470 stores for £9.9 billion ($13.7 billion).

Amazon now has more than a dozen Amazon Books stores across the United States, which also sell toys, electronics and small gifts.

It has space in some Kohl’s stores, and small shops in several US malls.

Amazon did not discuss if or when it will add more Go locations, and reiterated it has no plans to add the technology to the larger and more complex Whole Foods stores. Pictured is the new Seattle store

Amazon did not discuss if or when it will add more Go locations, and reiterated it has no plans to add the technology to the larger and more complex Whole Foods stores. Pictured is the new Seattle store

Amazon did not discuss if or when it will add more Go locations, and reiterated it has no plans to add the technology to the larger and more complex Whole Foods stores.

Gianna Puerini, vice president of Amazon Go, said in an interview that the store worked very well throughout the test phase, thanks to four years of prior legwork.

‘This technology didn’t exist. It was really advancing the state of the art of computer vision and machine learning,’ Ms Puerini said. 

Amazon, famous for dynamic pricing online, has printed price tags just as traditional brick-and-mortar stores do. Pictured are Amazon-branded chocolate bars at the new store

Amazon, famous for dynamic pricing online, has printed price tags just as traditional brick-and-mortar stores do. Pictured are Amazon-branded chocolate bars at the new store

The company had announced the Amazon Go store in December 2016 and said it would open by early 2017, but it delayed the debut while it worked on the technology and company employees tested it out

The company had announced the Amazon Go store in December 2016 and said it would open by early 2017, but it delayed the debut while it worked on the technology and company employees tested it out

To start shopping, customers must scan an Amazon Go smartphone app via a QR code and pass through a gated turnstile.

Sleek black cameras monitoring from above and weight sensors in the shelves help Amazon determine exactly what people take. 

Much of the store will feel familiar to shoppers, aside from the check-out process. 

Amazon, famous for dynamic pricing online, has printed price tags just as traditional brick-and-mortar stores do.



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