Neuroscientist Klyucharev: “AI cameras in Moscow stores can violate privacy”

A new system for analyzing customer behavior in stores was developed by one of the capital’s companies. It is assumed that this system, consisting of a camera and a special computer based on a processor with a neural accelerator, will work in the interests of retailers. It is important for them to understand what products attract the attention of the buyer due to their appearance, and to correctly place them on the store shelves. However, at the same time, they would like to know who exactly is shopping: “Artificial intelligence determines the age, gender and direction of the gaze of buyers in order to identify products that are potentially interesting for them on the shelves,” the innovation is announced.

That is, “dense” work with the faces and emotions of buyers is supposed to be?

Of course, it will be “a convenient analytical tool for market participants,” as the head of the company’s computer vision department described it. But will such a “tool” be convenient for the buyers themselves?

– This is a very serious topic, – Vasily Klyucharev comments on the technology being prepared for implementation in the capital’s supermarkets. – I know that in many countries, for example, in some areas of London, people are already agreeing to limit the placement of cameras in public places. On the one hand, it is clear that this is a good tool for protecting against crime, but on the other hand, people want to maintain some privacy, privacy. In that sense, it’s a big ethical question.

According to Klyucharev, the direction of the buyer’s gaze, his choice of this or that product, especially in relation to his gender and age, just relate to the very topic of privacy, and in order to retrieve such data, sellers, in a good way, must first obtain preliminary information from the buyer permission.

– If you remember, when entering a particular site, we are often asked if we consent to the collection and processing of our data. In offline stores, in theory, such a rule should also apply, – says the interlocutor.

– It is important, after all, who will then have access to this data?

– This is also a big question. The data may remain inside the Moscow government or the store, or it may “leak”, for example, to medical companies. Those who see that a person looks bad, and even buys alcohol at the same time, can increase insurance. “Or maybe the patient leads an unhealthy lifestyle: why was he suddenly drawn to full-fat yogurt?” In any case, if not material, then reputational damage can be done to him.

Recently, the development of neural networks has reached a new level. If earlier a respectable buyer, relatively speaking, did not give a damn about the cameras in stores, which could only record offenses, now the situation has changed. “Smart” cameras are able to identify a person and “pull out” more complex information about her.

– Which one?

– Firstly, your taste preferences, secondly, the social circle, because a person may not be alone on the trading floor, thirdly, he may not be healthy, not shaved, in a bad mood, etc. All these little things can actually tell a lot about a person. Now, from a photo in a school album, from a person’s emotions on it, one can tell whether he will be happy in life.

At the present stage of the development of artificial intelligence, shopping video clips, theoretically, can characterize a person even by how confidently we choose a product, whether we prefer expensive or cheap brands.

– Are those who prophesy a crisis due to artificial intelligence still right?

– All fears about the upcoming crisis associated with the development of neural networks are not groundless. In my opinion, it may come, but not tomorrow. At least in Russia, there are simply no specialists so large as to be able to analyze such subtle input data. But in the foreseeable future, they will definitely appear.

– Marketers claim that they do everything solely to improve the quality of service and products …

– Of course, everyone claims this, but it’s better to act according to the principle: trust, but verify.

Lawyer Alexey Fedoryaka comments:

– Articles 23 and 24 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation tell us that every citizen has the right to privacy, personal and family secrets, that the collection, storage and use of information about his private life without his consent is by no means allowed. In addition, there is the Federal Law on the Protection of Personal Data, according to which all data about a person, including his hair color, age, etc., can be collected only with his consent and only if they correspond to the purpose of collection. Based on this, it can be assumed that filming customers, determining their age and gender in relation to their faces in stores without their permission will be considered a violation of their rights.

– We all know about cases of leakage of personal data even from official institutions, passport offices and banks, where people leave them under signature. How then do they decide to consent to their collection, for example, in a grocery store?

– I have little idea how stores will receive permission from buyers to collect photo and video information. Maybe it will be indicated on the check that when we buy the goods, we consent to the collection and processing of our data? What can be recommended here? Read carefully everything that is printed, especially what is printed in small print.