Amazon's AI Eyesore. After Just Walk Out Disappointment, Should Investors Be Worried?

Editor's note: Portions of this article have been corrected. An Amazon spokesperson reached out to The Motley Fool after this article was published to note that Amazon "associates validate a small portion of shopping visits by reviewing recorded video clips to ensure that our systems are performing at our high bar for accuracy," but no transactions are viewed live. The Just Walk Out technology will be removed from all Amazon Fresh locations in the U.S., but the Amazon spokesperson noted that "there are more than 130 third-party Just Walk Out technology locations in the U.S., UK, Australia, and Canada -- and we will open more Just Walk Out enabled stores this year than any year prior -- including at travel retailers, sports stadiums, entertainment venues, conference centers, theme parks, convenience stores, hospitals, and college campuses."

Amazon's (NASDAQ: AMZN) Just Walk Out technology, long showcased by the company as a revolutionary retail innovation, is apparently not as game-changing as some thought.

The Information reported last week that Amazon would be dropping the technology from its Amazon Fresh stores. This news got picked up and combined with a year-ago report from The Information that had said the network of cameras and other devices that powered the cashierless Just Walk Out technology in Amazon Go, Amazon Fresh, and Whole Foods stores mostly depended on humans to verify the transactions. The 2023 report said that about 70% of transactions at Just Walk Out stores had to be reviewed by an Amazon team of more than 1,000 people in India. Amazon says this is inaccurate and that Amazon associates "validate a small portion of shopping visits by reviewing recorded video clips."

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Source Fool.com