SAY CHEESE!
Creepy AI tech tracks smiles and voice tone of supermarket staff to rate their attitude towards customers
A trial showed a major change in staff's behaviour
A MAJOR supermarket chain has rolled out a controversial new AI-powered "smile-rating AI system" for employees.
The Japanese chain, Aeon, adopted the system - dubbed "Mr Smile" - on July 1 in an effort to "standardise" their customers' experiences.
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The retail technology has been implemented in 240 stores across Japan, according to the South China Morning Post.
It involves game-like elements so staff aim to improve their service attitude by upping their scores.
Aeon said its goal was to “satisfy customers to the maximum”.
Developed by Japanese firm InstaVR, Mr Smile assesses each employee based on more than 450 factors, including their greeting, facial expressions, voice volume and tone.
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It's thought to be the first company in the world to use AI to measure the attitudes of customer facing employees.
Artificial Intelligence explained
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- Artificial intelligence, also known as AI, is a type of computer software
- Typically, a computer will do what you tell it to do
- But artificial intelligence simulates the human mind, and can make its own deductions, inferences or decisions
- A simple computer might let you set an alarm to wake you up
- But an AI system might scan your emails, work out that you’ve got a meeting tomorrow, and then set an alarm and plan a journey for you
- AI tech is often “trained” – which means it observes something (potentially even a human) then learns about a task over time
- For instance, an AI system can be fed thousands of photos of human faces, then generate photos of human faces all on its own
- Some experts have raised concerns that humans will eventually lose control of super-intelligent AI
- But the tech world is still divided over whether or not AI tech will eventually kill us all in a Terminator-style apocalypse
Mr Smile was first trialled in just eight stores, covering roughly 3,400 staff members.
The trial found that service attitude improved by up to 1.6 times over a three month period.
However, onlookers say the tech will enable more harassment from customers, which has been a serious issue in Japan.
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"I think that the fixed idea that 'store clerks should smile at customers no matter what' is the root cause of many customer harassment," one person said on X (formerly Twitter).
"If we want 'employees to smile at all times,' we need a salary that is commensurate with that."
Another added: "As a customer, I don't need forced smiles and I don't want to work in a place like this."
Others have voiced concern over the increasing use of AI in public.
"I'm scared of being evaluated by AI," said a third person.
While a fourth stated: "Stay human, employees. Smiles and service really come from within. Don't let AI control you."
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