AI at the Grocery Store

When we last wrote on this subject, in Artificial Intelligence and the Job Market, Amazon had recently announced its Amazon Go Convenience Stores that automated the checkout process letting shoppers select their goods and walk out without having to wait in line for a cashier. Instead, shoppers scan a smart phone App to enter the store. Then, cameras and sensors track what the shoppers take off the shelves and charge them to the shopper’s Amazon account.
According to a Bloomberg report, Amazon is planning to license a version of this technology to other retailers.
Now, as reported by Bloomberg, Amazon has developed a smart shopping cart that will ring up purchases and let shoppers checkout themselves automatically. The new carts are called Dash carts and take the grocery shopping process a step further. But the Dash carts are up against competition from companies named Caper and Veeve, that both sell carts that scan products as shoppers pick their purchases.
These developments will clearly reduce the need for cashiers and checkout personnel. But, if the history of technology innovation is followed, the improved shopping experience should lower costs and increase the market for retail goods, thus leading to increased sales and profits for retailers and an expansion of these businesses that should lead to a need for more employees throughout.