In 2021, when Amazon launched its first “just walk out” grocery store in the UK in Ealing, west London, this newspaper reported on the cutting-edge technologies that Amazon said made it all possible: facial-recognition cameras, sensors on the shelves and, of course, “artificial intelligence”. The first customers queued outside, excited to experience the future. “I am an early adopter,” one of them said. “I can’t wait to see how this new technology works and I think it is going to be everywhere shortly.”
The promise of the “just walk out” stores was that customers would not need to queue for a cashier, scan their own items or even pause on the way out. They could simply take what they needed, walk out the door and the benevolent all-seeing eye of technology would seamlessly price their goods, charge their account and send them a receipt.
