Retailers Injecting AI Into the Anti-Theft Battle

Retailers and their tech partners are increasingly adding Artificial Intelligence (AI) to their toolkits for dealing with theft, CNBC reports.

Such high-profile retailers as Walmart, Target, Lowe’s, Kroger, Macy’s and CVS and are teaming with technology companies to develop and deploy next-generation video surveillance systems, facial-recognition cameras, license-plate and vehicle readers, autonomous security robots, radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, smart case locks and predictive analytic software.

While much of that tech has been around for years, it’s now being superpowered by AI, the cable news channel reports.

For retailers and loss-prevention experts, the primary goal of these technologies isn’t necessarily to catch thieves in the act, but rather to make committing their crimes less appealing — turning them away before they ever reach the door.

“The first thing we look at is, can we detect these people and identify them before there are victims?” said Read Hayes, director of the Loss Prevention Research Council, a think tank comprising researchers, retailers, technology companies, manufacturers and law enforcement professionals told CNBC. “We’re trying to get the offender or crew to say, ‘Not here, not now, this doesn’t feel right.’”

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