Sainsbury's pauses AI cameras after shopper ousted

Sainsbury's has suspended its use of live facial recognition technology at one of its London branches after a customer was wrongly challenged as a shoplifter and asked to leave.

Matt Arnold, 46, was buying items at the East Dulwich store when he was stopped by management at a self-service till.

Describing the experience as a "terrifying glimpse of the future," he has warned that retail surveillance tech risks humiliating customers and creating a system where staff feel compelled to follow automated alerts without applying human logic.

The supermarket said it had apologised to Arnold and claimed the mistake was "caused by human error", but critics have called for the technology to be scrapped.

The incident happened on 6 August as Arnold - a comedy promoter getting supplies for a stand-up event hosted at the next door Dulwich Hamlet Football Club - was waiting for a staff member to approve an alcohol purchase.

Having already scanned his items alongside his Nectar loyalty card, he said he had waved an attendant over.

Instead, he said he was approached by two of the management staff and told he could not be served due to an incident "earlier in the week".

"They came over and said I had to leave. The staff member said I'd been identified by the AI, and the cameras had flagged me," he told BBC London.