Retailers explore facial recognition and AI technology

Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol indicated during a recent earnings call that the company is exploring technologies to recognize participating customers upon arrival, provide personalized digital menus, and streamline payments. While the company is in the early stages of testing and scaling these experiences, it also plans to test AI models in drive-thrus by the 2027 financial year to improve order accuracy for baristas.

Meanwhile, the deployment of AI-driven facial recognition in retail has faced criticism due to accuracy issues. In the United Kingdom, reports have emerged of customers being wrongly accused of shoplifting by automated surveillance systems. These false-positive matches have led to incidents where individuals were removed from stores, such as Home Bargains and Budgens, causing significant distress and privacy concerns. Civil liberty groups have noted the difficulty for wrongly accused individuals to clear their names through existing bureaucratic processes.