亚马逊生鲜扼杀“Just Walk Out”(拿了就走)购物技术：它从来没有真正发挥过作用
Amazon Fresh kills “Just Walk Out” shopping tech—it never really worked
译文简介
Just Walk Out技术简单来说就是极大地简化结账流程，用户只需要拿起物品就能离开商店，全程不需要排队结账。该系统利用摄像头和传感器追踪顾客离开时的物品，并将费用计入他们进入商店时使用的支付账号。只是效果似乎不尽如人意。
正文翻译
插图：亚马逊生鲜店的“Just Walk Out”宣传。
Amazon is giving up on the cashier-less "Just Walk Out" technology at its Amazon Fresh grocery stores. The Information reports that new stores will be built without computer-vision-powered surveillance technology, and "the majority" of existing stores will have the tech removed. In the early days, Amazon's ambitions included selling Just Walk Out to other brick-and-mortar stores. The problem was that the technology never really worked.
亚马逊公司正在放弃在其生鲜门店内使用无收银台模式的“Just Walk Out”（拿了就走）技术。据《The Information》报道，接下来即将建成的店铺后续将不再使用计算机视觉监控技术，“绝大多数”已经采用此技术的现有门店也将取消这项技术。早期，亚马逊公司曾有向其他实体店出售“Just Walk Out”技术的野心。可问题是，这项技术实际上从未真正发挥作用。
亚马逊公司正在放弃在其生鲜门店内使用无收银台模式的“Just Walk Out”（拿了就走）技术。据《The Information》报道，接下来即将建成的店铺后续将不再使用计算机视觉监控技术，“绝大多数”已经采用此技术的现有门店也将取消这项技术。早期，亚马逊公司曾有向其他实体店出售“Just Walk Out”技术的野心。可问题是，这项技术实际上从未真正发挥作用。
As it says on the tin, Just Walk Out was supposed to let customers grab what they wanted from a store and just leave, skipping any kind of checkout process. Amazon wanted to track what customers took with them purely via AI-powered video surveillance; the system just took a phone scan at the door, and shoppers would be billed later via their Amazon accounts.
正如其包装盒上写的那样，“Just Walk Out”本应让顾客在商店里拿上想要的东西就走，而无需任何结账程序。亚马逊希望纯粹通过人工智能驱动的视频监控技术来追踪顾客带走了什么；系统只需在门口进行手机扫描，购物者随后就会通过亚马逊账户收到账单。
正如其包装盒上写的那样，“Just Walk Out”本应让顾客在商店里拿上想要的东西就走，而无需任何结账程序。亚马逊希望纯粹通过人工智能驱动的视频监控技术来追踪顾客带走了什么；系统只需在门口进行手机扫描，购物者随后就会通过亚马逊账户收到账单。
When the technology was announced in 2016, Amazon's sales pitch asked, "What if we could weave the most advanced machine learning, computer vision, and AI into the very fabric of a store so you never had to wait in line?" The store was filled with 100-plus cameras and rigid item locations, all designed to try to make AI-powered computer vision checkout possible.
2016年宣布这项技术时，亚马逊的销售宣传语是这样的：“如果我们能把最先进的机器学习、计算机视觉和人工智能技术融合进到商店的结构中，让你永远不用去排队，那会怎么样？”门店内布满了100多个摄像头和刚性商品位置，所有这些都是为了让人工智能驱动的计算机视觉结账成为可能。
2016年宣布这项技术时，亚马逊的销售宣传语是这样的：“如果我们能把最先进的机器学习、计算机视觉和人工智能技术融合进到商店的结构中，让你永远不用去排队，那会怎么样？”门店内布满了100多个摄像头和刚性商品位置，所有这些都是为了让人工智能驱动的计算机视觉结账成为可能。
A May 2023 report from The Information revealed the myriad tech problems Amazon was still having with the idea six years after the initial announcement. The report said that "Amazon had more than 1,000 people in India working on Just Walk Out as of mid-2022 whose jobs included manually reviewing transactions and labeling images from videos to train Just Walk Out’s machine learning model."
2023年5月，《The Information》的一篇报道揭示了亚马逊在最初宣布这一想法的六年后仍然面临无数的技术问题。报道称，“截至2022年年中，亚马逊雇佣了1000多的印度人为Just Walk Out项目工作，他们的工作包括人工审核交易和标注视频中的图像，以训练Just Walk Out的机器学习模型”。
2023年5月，《The Information》的一篇报道揭示了亚马逊在最初宣布这一想法的六年后仍然面临无数的技术问题。报道称，“截至2022年年中，亚马逊雇佣了1000多的印度人为Just Walk Out项目工作，他们的工作包括人工审核交易和标注视频中的图像，以训练Just Walk Out的机器学习模型”。
Training is part of any AI project, but it sounds like Amazon wasn't making much progress, even after years of working on the project. "As of mid-2022, Just Walk Out required about 700 human reviews per 1,000 sales, far above an internal target of reducing the number of reviews to between 20 and 50 per 1,000 sales," the report said.
培训是任何人工智能项目的一部分，但听起来亚马逊似乎并没有取得多大进展，即使在该项目进行了多年之后。报告称：“截至2022年年中，Just Walk Out项目每千次销售仍然需要约700次人工审核，远远超出了将审核数量减少到每千次销售20至50次审核的内部目标。”
培训是任何人工智能项目的一部分，但听起来亚马逊似乎并没有取得多大进展，即使在该项目进行了多年之后。报告称：“截至2022年年中，Just Walk Out项目每千次销售仍然需要约700次人工审核，远远超出了将审核数量减少到每千次销售20至50次审核的内部目标。”
The report said Amazon's team "repeatedly missed goals" to cut down on human reviews, and "the reliance on backup humans explains in part why it can take hours for customers to receive receipts."
报告称，亚马逊的团队“一再地未能完成减少人工审核的目标”，“对后台人力工作的依赖在一定程度上解释了为什么顾客（购物后）仍需要几个小时才能收到账单的问题”。
报告称，亚马逊的团队“一再地未能完成减少人工审核的目标”，“对后台人力工作的依赖在一定程度上解释了为什么顾客（购物后）仍需要几个小时才能收到账单的问题”。
According to The Information report, the Just Walk Out tech was deployed in 20 Amazon Go stores, 40 Amazon Fresh grocery stores, and two Whole Foods stores. It had even gotten some third-party outlets on board, including "30 stores operated by other companies in US sports stadiums, 12 airports, and one university in Arlington, Virginia," the report said.
根据The Information的报道，Just Walk Out技术已部署在20家Amazon Go商店（无人便利店）、40家Amazon Fresh生鲜超市和两家Whole Foods商店（全食超市，销售天然食品和有机食品）。报道称，它甚至还让一些第三方门店加入进来，包括“美国体育场馆中由其他公司运营的30家商店、12个机场和弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿的一所大学”。
根据The Information的报道，Just Walk Out技术已部署在20家Amazon Go商店（无人便利店）、40家Amazon Fresh生鲜超市和两家Whole Foods商店（全食超市，销售天然食品和有机食品）。报道称，它甚至还让一些第三方门店加入进来，包括“美国体育场馆中由其他公司运营的30家商店、12个机场和弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿的一所大学”。
Amazon will be switching to a more reasonable cashier-less format: shopping carts with built-in checkout screens and scanners. Customers can leisurely scan items as they throw them in the "Amazon Dash Cart," and the screen will let them instantly see a running total of their purchases. The cart scanners also mean that Amazon no longer needs a small army of store employees to constantly tidy up the shelves so the camera-vision system can work.
亚马逊将改用更合理的无收银员模式：内置结账屏幕和扫描仪的购物车。顾客可以一边悠闲地扫描商品，一边把它们扔进“亚马逊Dash购物车”，屏幕上会立即显示出他们的购物总金额。购物车扫描仪还意味着，亚马逊不再需要一小队商店员工来不断整理货架，以便摄像头视觉系统能够正常工作。
亚马逊将改用更合理的无收银员模式：内置结账屏幕和扫描仪的购物车。顾客可以一边悠闲地扫描商品，一边把它们扔进“亚马逊Dash购物车”，屏幕上会立即显示出他们的购物总金额。购物车扫描仪还意味着，亚马逊不再需要一小队商店员工来不断整理货架，以便摄像头视觉系统能够正常工作。
Amazon sent along a statement on the news:
亚马逊就这一消息发表了一份声明：
亚马逊就这一消息发表了一份声明：
We’ve invested a lot of time redesigning a number of our Amazon Fresh stores over the last year, offering a better overall shopping experience with more value, convenience, and sextion—and so far we’ve seen positive results, with higher customer shopping satisfaction scores and increased purchasing. We’ve also heard from customers that while they enjoyed the benefit of skipping the checkout line with Just Walk Out, they also wanted the ability to easily find nearby products and deals, view their receipt as they shop, and know how much money they saved while shopping throughout the store. To deliver even more convenience to our customers, we’re rolling out Amazon Dash Cart, our smart-shopping carts, which allows customers all these benefits including skipping the checkout line.
“去年，我们投入了大量时间重新设计了亚马逊生鲜的一些店铺，提供了更有价值、更方便、更多样性的、更好的整体购物体验--到目前为止，我们已经看到了积极的成果，顾客的购物满意度得分提高了，购买量也增加了。我们还从顾客那里了解到，虽然他们喜欢Just Walk Out带来的省去排队结账的好处，但他们也希望能够轻松找到附近的产品和优惠，在购物时查看收据，并了解自己在整个商店购物时节省了多少钱。为了给顾客带来更多便利，我们推出了亚马逊Dash Cart智能购物车，让顾客享受到包括跳过结账排队在内的所有这些好处。”
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
“去年，我们投入了大量时间重新设计了亚马逊生鲜的一些店铺，提供了更有价值、更方便、更多样性的、更好的整体购物体验--到目前为止，我们已经看到了积极的成果，顾客的购物满意度得分提高了，购买量也增加了。我们还从顾客那里了解到，虽然他们喜欢Just Walk Out带来的省去排队结账的好处，但他们也希望能够轻松找到附近的产品和优惠，在购物时查看收据，并了解自己在整个商店购物时节省了多少钱。为了给顾客带来更多便利，我们推出了亚马逊Dash Cart智能购物车，让顾客享受到包括跳过结账排队在内的所有这些好处。”
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
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I forget who, but someone started a joke that "AI" just stands for "Absent Indians".
我忘了是谁说的了，有人开玩笑说，所谓“AI”，其实就代表了“不在场的印度人”而已。
Worth noting that this isn't a case of "there was no AI, it's just people!". There was AI, it just sucked, and 70% of transactions had to be corrected by humans.
值得注意的是，这并不是一个“没有人工智能，只有人！”的案例。人工智能确实是有的，只是很差劲，70%的交易必须由人工来纠正。
With humans fixing 70% of the work I'd hesitate to call this an AI system with human intervention and think of it more like a human system with some AI assistance.
既然70%的工作都是由人类完成的，我还是不太好说这是一个有人类干预的人工智能系统，我认为它更像是一个有人工智能辅助的人类系统。
It's actually worse than AI assistance. It's humans, at human speed, having to fix mistakes the computer has made at computer speed.
这其实比有人工智能辅助的人类系统还更糟糕。它是以人类速度的人去修正以计算机速度犯错的计算机（的系统）。
I used this in the Seattle area several times. It seemed to work well and never gave me any issues.
On several occasions my friends and I discussed and mused about how it worked.
The part we couldn’t reconcile was that IF Amazon had the tech to do all of that completely automated then how did that not seem to exist elsewhere?
We ended up jokingly saying that there was probably a room full of folks just watching the cameras…I emphasize “jokingly” there!
我在西雅图地区用过几次。它看起来运行良好，从未给我带来任何问题。
有好几次，我和我的朋友们都在讨论和思考它是如何工作的。
我们无法达成一致的是，如果亚马逊拥有完全自动化的技术，那么为什么其他地方似乎不存在这种技术呢？
最后，我们开玩笑地说，可能有一屋子的人都在看摄像头吧……我强调那时候可是在“开玩笑”！
This makes sense, if you're going to rigidly control the sextion to what a computer vision system can handle then you can also just put RFID on each container and have the cart scan it as it comes near.
In the real world even Walmart couldn't get all of their suppliers onboard with RFID enough to have universal adoption and even with universal adoption you still have produce to deal with (and packaging every bit of produce into plastic sucks from both a cost and environmental perspective).
Trying to eliminate the handful of checkout staff seems like a losing proposition to me, it's like Tesla trying to 100% automate battery pack assembly, it turns out to be premature optimization, a mix of automation and humans works well.
这是有道理的，如果你要严格控制计算机视觉系统所能处理的选择范围，那么你也可以在每个货柜上安装RFID（RFID一般指射频识别技术），让购物车在靠近时对其进行扫描。
在现实世界中，即使沃尔玛也无法让所有供应商都采用RFID技术，而且即使采用了RFID技术，你仍然需要处理农产品（从成本和环保的角度来看，用塑料包装的农产品都很糟糕）。
在我看来，试图取消少量收银员似乎是一个失败的提议，这就像特斯拉试图实现电池组组装的100%自动化一样，结果证明其优化时机还不成熟，自动化和人工的结合效果相对更好。
This is borderline fraud, isn't it?
I'd imagine investors who thought Amazon had some advance ai and camera surveillance and was going to revolutionize the grocery shopping experience will be mad to learn it was actually just being run by humans.
这简直就是欺诈，不是吗？
我可以想象，那些以为亚马逊拥有先进的人工智能和摄像头监控技术，并将彻底改变杂货购物体验的投资者，在得知亚马逊的这个系统实际上只是由人类在后台经营时，一定会气疯了。
I'm a bit concerned that Amazon's public view is that people are now considered backup systems. They're not even bothering to hide it any more.
我有点担心，亚马逊的公众观点是，人现在被视为系统备份。他们甚至都懒得再掩饰了。
People are always backup for automated systems - at least to fix them when they break, and often to provide the service when the automated system can’t.
If it reaches the point that the “backup” ends up taking the load too much of the time, then you don’t really have an automated system.
人总是自动化系统的后备力量--至少人可以在系统故障时修复它们，而且经常在自动化系统无法提供服务时提供服务。
可如果到了“备份”最终要承担超多工作的地步，那么其实你就没有真正的自动化系统了。
Their original view was "people aren't even necessary", which they publicly stated. "People as backup" is the result of the first goal failing.
他们最初的观点是“其实根本不用人”，这也是他们公开声明的。“人作为系统备份”是第一个目标没有达成后的妥协。
Fantastic article so spot on. The illusion of "automation" when in reality is underpaid human hamster running in a wheel is everywhere (I work in IT)
精彩的文章，一针见血。“自动化”的假象无处不在，而真相是薪水极低的人类仓鼠在车轮上奔跑而已（我在IT部门工作）。
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Doesn't seem to different from outsourcing clothing or technology production to Asia.
这和把服装或技术生产外包给亚洲似乎也没什么区别。
And isn’t this the truth about capitalism. It always was.
All the bunkum we’ve been told about capitalism feeds into this deception.
The interesting thing is how capitalists sneer at Com...ism socialism as failed projects but their arrogance on their own views means they’re blind to the basic fact that human beings are greedy and selfish and this is what caused socialism and Com...ism to fail and it will cause capitalism to die a death too.
这不就是资本主义的真相吗？一直都是这样。
我们被告知的关于资本主义的所有谬论都助长了这种欺骗。
有趣的是，资本家嘲笑共产主义社会主义是失败的项目，但他们对自己观点的傲慢意味着他们忽视了一个基本事实，即人类是贪婪和自私的，这既是导致社会主义和共产主义失败的原因，也是导致资本主义死亡的原因。
If these so called miracle machines can effectively spy on you in a shop, who's to say they won't develop to the point where 1984 becomes a reality and they will be spying on you no matter where you go?
如果这些所谓的神奇机器可以在商店里有效地监视你，谁又能保证它们不会发展到《1984》成为现实的地步，无论你走到哪里它们都会监视你呢？