Amazon’s first cashier-less supermarket opens to the public in downtown Seattle today - a move that could revolutionise high-street shopping.
Customers are then charged for the items through the Amazon app on their smartphone, which they have to scan on an automated turnstile to enter and exit the store.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"content_full_width","fid":"105719","attributes":{"class":"media-image"}}]]
A combination of “computer vision, machine learning algorithms and sensors” are used to accurately track which items shoppers pick up, says the newpaper. Any products that are put back on shelves are not added to the customer’s bill.
Gianna Puerini, vice president of Amazon Go, says the store worked very well throughout the one-year test phase - when only Amazon employees were allowed to shop there - thanks to four years of prior legwork, reports BBC News. Puerini added: “This technology didn’t exist [until then] - it was really advancing the state of the art of computer vision and machine learning.”
However, The Guardian says there have been claims that the technology did not always work as expected during the trial.
One source told the newspaper that the AI systems had difficulties identifying customers with similar body types, and that children had confused the tracking technology by moving products to different shelves.
Amazon has yet to reveal whether it plans to open more Go stores, either in the US or abroad.
-
Farage’s £9m windfall: will it smooth his path to power?In Depth The record donation has come amidst rumours of collaboration with the Conservatives and allegations of racism in Farage's school days
-
The issue dividing Israel: ultra-Orthodox draft dodgersIn the Spotlight A new bill has solidified the community’s ‘draft evasion’ stance, with this issue becoming the country’s ‘greatest internal security threat’
-
Codeword: December 13, 2025The daily codeword puzzle from The Week
-
Separating the real from the fake: tips for spotting AI slopThe Week Recommends Advanced AI may have made slop videos harder to spot, but experts say it’s still possible to detect them
-
Inside a Black community’s fight against Elon Musk’s supercomputerUnder the radar Pollution from Colossal looms over a small Southern town, potentially exacerbating health concerns
-
Poems can force AI to reveal how to make nuclear weaponsUnder The Radar ‘Adversarial poems’ are convincing AI models to go beyond safety limits
-
Spiralism is the new cult AI users are falling intoUnder the radar Technology is taking a turn
-
AI agents: When bots browse the webfeature Letting robots do the shopping
-
Is AI to blame for recent job cuts?Today’s Big Question Numerous companies have called out AI for being the reason for the culling
-
‘Deskilling’: a dangerous side effect of AI useThe explainer Workers are increasingly reliant on the new technology
-
AI models may be developing a ‘survival drive’Under the radar Chatbots are refusing to shut down
