Kmart Camera Glasses and Colesworth Facial Recognition

As always there is a lot happening in the artificial intelligence space and a lot to unpack. Over the last few weeks, we had Kmart introduce and sell out of their cheap AI smart glasses, and Coles and Woolworths plan to introduce facial recognition technology in their shops. The concern over the Kmart AI smart glasses is that we have seen more expensive versions pioneered by Rayban with their Meta AI glasses and now consumers in Australia have a cheaper $89 version that is easier to access and could be used to film people in public at a moment’s notice without their permission and then post said footage on social media.

The Colesworth duopoly introducing facial recognition for customers is another interesting conversation. The two biggest supermarkets in Australia claim they’re introducing it as a means to reduce theft and protect their staff from aggression. It’s a bit of a security versus privacy dilemma. While this has not been proven yet, discussions have taken place online about shops potentially using facial recognition to track our purchases and monitor our personal data, which has made people worried considering supermarkets have used security cameras to watch our every move for years and this seems like the next step.

Fiona Bartholomaeus chats with Dr Jacqui Boaks, Curriculum Lead with the Curtin Centre for Applied Ethics and Philosopher-in-Residence at the WA Data Science Innovation Hub.