Stores add AI to security systems

Your favorite stores are fighting a battle. The National Retail Federation reports the industry lost $112 billion to retail crime during the last fiscal year. In a recently published retail security survey, 52 percent of retailers that responded said they’re increasing budgets for technology and software solutions.

Heading into the holiday season, you may find more security as you shop. Read on for how some stores are adding artificial intelligence to their security plans.

“THIS CAUGHT IT”

Not far from where Highways 183 and 161 intersect near DFW International Airport, Mohsin Veerani’s convenience store has added a new layer of security.

All 26 store cameras feed into an artificial intelligence system developed by a French company called Veesion. It’s monitoring for movements that suggest a person is stealing. If it identifies suspicious activity, a five-second video clip is shared with an app accessible to the store owner or loss prevention manager.

Veerani showed NBC 5 a recent example of the system sending a real-time video alert of suspicious activity.

“You see how a cashier can't see that because that's underneath the counter? He's just looking at them and doing it like this with just a hand action,” Veerani said as he gestured toward his pocket.

“This caught it. The camera caught it instantly,” Veerani added.

NBC 5 Responds wanted to see the system in action.

Reporter Diana Zoga pretended to steal – pocketing a bag of snacks. Veerani said, “It didn’t catch that.” We tried another angle. Veerani said he didn’t see an alert.

He contacted Veesion support which set up a simulation. A spokesperson tells us simulations ensure the gestures the store owner wants to be alerted to are activated. It says it’s one of the first steps when starting with the technology, but the owner of the store hadn’t previously responded to Veesion’s follow-up to ensure all necessary gestures were set up. The system would also have to be able to properly see the gesture.

NBC 5 met up with Veerani a few days later after additional simulations with Veesion. When Zoga played a thief and put chips in her purse, Veerani received a very suspicious activity alert within 38 seconds.

“Multiple different camera angles caught you,” said Veerani.

Veerani said the simulations helped sort movements he wants AI to ID as suspicious versus normal activity – like staff sorting a display.

“Had I done that, maybe within the first month, maybe it would have been perfect. Now we've done about two weeks. This is the third week. I think another two more and it will get much better,” Veerani said.

Our NBC Responds colleagues in Miami and the Bay Area each tried the Veesion system in stores. Both reporters, Myriam Masihy and Chris Chmura, reported it took less than a minute for the system to send a “very suspicious” activity alert and corresponding video to managers in the store.

“THE ALGORITHM DOESN’T CARE WHAT PEOPLE LOOK LIKE”

Veesion said the system doesn’t profile people. It’s designed to identify specific gestures.

“The algorithm doesn’t care what people look like. It’s just recognizing a gesture,” said Benoit Koenig, co-founder of Veesion.

Veesion said it doesn’t store the biometric information of people. For example, if the system alerts a person and that person comes back the next day, it sends a new alert to the store.   

Veesion said it’s signed more than 350 stores in 36 states in the U.S. It’s not the only one working on anti-theft tech.

At the University Of Florida’s Loss Prevention Research Council, scientists work with tech companies in a lab, set up like a store.

“We’ve got 230 to 250, depending on who you ask, technologies in here,” said Director Read Hayes, a criminologist. “There’s AI in here that can pick up whether you’re not really scanning an item at self-checkout.”

The tech they test, like tiny exit cameras, is focused on identifying and stopping shoplifters.

STORE OWNER: POTENTIAL BENEFIT TO CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Back in Irving, Veerani said he’s working on a policy for how the store should respond to AI alerts. Veerani said he hopes to avoid a confrontation while deterring a thief from coming back.

“Imagine you're walking into a store and you see somebody else stealing in front of you. How are you going to feel? You're going to feel awkward and, like, let me get out of here,” said Veerani. “We don't want our customers to feel that way. We want them to feel like they're in a safe place.”

Veerani said there’s a potential benefit for the customer experience and bottom line.

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