Innocent People Are Being Accused of Shoplifting by Faulty AI-Facial Recognition Systems at an Alarming Rate

From New York City to the streets of Tokyo, creepy AI-facial recognition security systems are quickly becoming a common sight across the world. Unfortunately for many, the tech is nowhere near ready for the responsibility of live use as the troubling rise of false-positive matches makes clear.

In the United Kingdom, AI surveillance systems in retail stores have led to a surge in customers being wrongly accused of shoplifting. TechRadar highlighted a number of recent cases throughout the country, where shoppers say false accusations have left them shaken, with a feeling that their privacy had been horribly violated.

As one woman identified as Mary told the publication, her husband has been socially “isolated” after a quick jaunt into a Home Bargains store for vitamins went awry. When the stores’ system flagged the anonymous man as a shoplifter, the couple was forced to leave by management, seemingly without any chance to refute the accusation.

“I was scared to go into a shop,” the man told TechRadar.

Another man was said to be “shaking from head to toe” following his wife’s removal from a Budgens chain store for the crime of stealing “loads of meat” days before — an accusation complicated by the fact that they hadn’t set foot in the store for months.

Read the full article at Futurism.