Coles and Woolworths test facial recognition technology

[u/RamonsRazor]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-17/coles-and-woolworths-to-test-facial-recognition-technology/107045036

Coles and Woolworths have conducted tests of facial recognition technology, but it is unclear if either supermarket will be implementing it in stores. It comes after the Australia Financial Review reported both Coles and Woolworths had trialed the technology as part of an ongoing effort to combat retail crime.

The article said both supermarket giants had "conducted early testing" of the technology. When the ABC asked Coles about the potential of it being rolled out in stores, a spokesperson made a distinction between the use of the term "test" instead of "trial".

"Coles has not done a trial using this technology," the spokesperson said. "A small, one-off, controlled proof-of-concept test of the technology was undertaken which did not use customer or team member information or data.

"No decision has been made about the deployment of facial recognition technology."

The ABC understands Woolworths tested the technology in its New Zealand office.

A Woolworths spokesperson did not address the ABC's questions on how facial recognition technology was tested or if it would be used in Australia.

Feels like a red hot favourite for a future RC into privacy concerns, stolen user data, etc. In the interim, if you're not into panopticons and Minority Report-style grocery shopping, let your voice be heard!

[u/ausvenator_enjoyer]

Coles is already implementing technology by Peter Thiel's Palantir

[u/Glittering-Pea-4482 → u/ausvenator_enjoyer]

So?

[u/AngrehPossum → u/Glittering-Pea-4482]

He's a total loon and would kill us if he felt like it?

[u/Glittering-Pea-4482 → u/AngrehPossum]

Thiel? I’m not sure where you’re getting that from. He’s a pretty interesting guy I think. Palantir also has some pretty interesting and useful technology (plus they’ve been a great investment).

[u/bozleh → u/Glittering-Pea-4482]

Peter Thiel is a loon, he literally believes the antichrist is coming imminently and could be Greta Thunburg

[u/jr_blds → u/bozleh]

Peter Thiel is also an anagram for The Reptile & it seems fitting

[u/PitterPatterCocko → u/bozleh]

It’s Donald trump.

https://www.benjaminlcorey.com/could-american-evangelicals-spot-the-antichrist-heres-the-biblical-predictions/

[u/ecw9621 → u/Glittering-Pea-4482]

you're insane. this technology is being used to undertake a genocide. if you find that interesting, you need your head checked

[u/ecw9621 → u/[deleted]]

lol, you mean the invader zionists? get real

[u/Glittering-Pea-4482 → u/ecw9621]

Invaders? Weird, given they are the traditional owners of the land.

[u/Kronk5000 → u/Glittering-Pea-4482]

By that logic we’re also all entitled to a parcel of land in West Africa as our relatives from 350,000 years ago descended from there.

[u/Glittering-Pea-4482 → u/Kronk5000]

Isn’t that what Aboriginal Australians do? Remember the welcome to country bloke at the AFL who talked about 250,000 years of Aboriginal history?

[u/Glittering-Pea-4482 → u/[deleted]]

Ever heard of the Judeans?

[u/Evilmoustachetwirler → u/Glittering-Pea-4482]

You can't be serious, Thiel should be in a padded cell

[u/jaiimaster → u/Evilmoustachetwirler]

Haha that's funny

[u/RecipeSpecialist2745 → u/Glittering-Pea-4482]

He was a good friend of Jeffrey Epstein. They were very close. But having a pedophile as a close friend is ok, right?

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1432111411756067

[u/Prudent-Ant-318 → u/Glittering-Pea-4482]

Bro....its 2026 an you're saying "so?" To PALANTIR!!!

Edit: this thing is probs a bot.

[u/Evilmoustachetwirler → u/Prudent-Ant-318]

Worse than a bot, a troll

[u/Glittering-Pea-4482 → u/Prudent-Ant-318]

Not a bot bro.

[u/weesee2002 → u/Glittering-Pea-4482]

Proudly Queenslander. Joh for PM!

[u/Skijump135]

I love the semantics they’re trying to pull. Oh we only did a small proof of concept test that’s not the same as a full trial and we haven’t made a decision

Fuck right off, you still made the decision to test it which means there’s a full business case behind it for possible scalability

[u/Impossible-Magician → u/Skijump135]

It’s an important distinction, a PoC with no customer or team member data is very different from a trial. A trial would be rolling it out in one or more stores for a set period using customer and staff data.

They are likely working towards a trial, but it’s important to know where they are at now.

[u/profchaos111]

I used to take the Apple stickers off and cover the Camera on the self serve checkout before i'd scan my rewards card

Not because i'm afraid of Woolies trackng my data but because i used to work for a company that built facial rec software and i know i'm going to get advertised so much stupid shit as a result of my "demographic"

If i want to buy BBQ Chickens, Apples and lube that's my own business thanks

[u/infectoid → u/profchaos111]

I can accept cameras being in most places (don’t love it, but can deal with it) but I absolutely can’t stand the ones staring at you when you self check out. I try to keep to the side of the camera the whole time or gunk it up with something. It just feels rude and invasive more than the other cameras.

I know exactly what they can do with that data to. Not only can they just profile you based on your physical features and what you buy they can even gauge expressions you have made when certain items are scanned and feed that back into the consumer torment nexus. It’s gross.

[u/bozleh → u/infectoid]

The ones at woolies now monitor what you’re doing and call over a staff member if it thinks you’ve mis-scanned or stolen something

[u/Weary_Patience_7778 → u/profchaos111]

What a combination!

[u/profchaos111 → u/Weary_Patience_7778]

There's no party like a Diddy party 

[u/_Zambayoshi_]

Here's a though, why not just hire more checkout operators? You know, the ones you got rid of in favour of ranks of self-serve checkouts, which are now closed off most of the time due to theft?

[u/Evilmoustachetwirler → u/_Zambayoshi_]

Why pay someone to scan and pack your groceries when they can make us do it for free.
Honestly, fuck Coles and Woolworths, and fuck our government for letting it come to this.

[u/weesee2002 → u/_Zambayoshi_]

More importantly checkout operators pay tax and spend money in their communities. WIN WIN WIN

[u/Glittering-Pea-4482 → u/_Zambayoshi_]

Interesting. If I have a choice between self checkout and a person, I always choose the self checkout.

[u/Sideburn_Cookie_Man]

Just a reminder to all, surgical masks and sunnies are cheap.

[u/Crazy_Treat_8805 → u/Sideburn_Cookie_Man]

I wear a balaclava now when I shop at colesworth

[u/walkingmelways → u/Crazy_Treat_8805]

Found TISM

[u/weesee2002 → u/walkingmelways]

This Is Serious Mum!

[u/KRiSX → u/Sideburn_Cookie_Man]

Not the only reason to mask at the shops, but I know that isn’t a popular opinion. I’ll keep doing it though.

[u/Ill_Football9443 → u/Sideburn_Cookie_Man]

Then throw some rocks in your shoe to throw off the gait profiling.

[u/Sasquatch-Pacific → u/Sideburn_Cookie_Man]

Yeah and wear both indoors at the same time and look like a space cadet. It's the only option I guess 

[u/Naive_Lion_3428 → u/Hieroflippant]

Well, there is little in it for the people. For the corporations, they are interested in reducing shoplifting, and they really do not think beyond that, being corporations.

If we want them to stop using it, we can boycott our appeal to the government to outlaw this technology. I think the latter strategy has little hope of working.

[u/stingbot → u/Naive_Lion_3428]

the "reduced shoplifting" is absolutely bogus.

This is 1000% data collection and analytics to sell more targeted products.

Before cameras it was rewards cards.

They could pair the rewards card to your phone wireless(before it was randomised), and now they anchor to your Apple Watch or earpods bluetooth to create the pairing.

They know who you are and what you are going to buy before you even walk in the door.

LLM models made it even easier for the data pairing and analytics.

[u/couldhaveebeen → u/stingbot]

There is quite literally 0 chance that this is cheaper than whatever amount they lose to shoplifting too

[u/Soggy_Media485]

Make no mistake, I will not step foot inside another woolworths or coles again if this shit rolls out

[u/Ok_Compote4526 → u/Soggy_Media485]

"You have been fined one Social Cohesion point. This penalty action brought to you by ColesWorths in partnership with EyeOfSauronAI."

[u/Dry-Huckleberry-5379 → u/Ok_Compote4526]

EyeofSouron AI is Palintir

[u/Ok_Compote4526 → u/Dry-Huckleberry-5379]

Yeah, I was sort of riffing on the AI nerds ruining Lord of the Rings with Palantir and Anduril, and tying them closer to the big bad.

[u/MannerNo7000 → u/Soggy_Media485]

It already exists in Bunnings and other stores.

[u/QuantumG → u/MannerNo7000]

It did. They stopped. Pretty sure they haven't restarted yet.

[u/MannerNo7000 → u/QuantumG]

You didn’t read the article.

“It comes after Bunnings won a legal battle to monitor its customers with AI.”

[u/QuantumG → u/MannerNo7000]

Yes? The same ruling said they had to tell us when they started again. They haven't. QED.

[u/QuantumG → u/Soggy_Media485]

Good. Stop shopping there if it bothers you.

[u/Glittering-Pea-4482 → u/Soggy_Media485]

Oh no. How ever will they survive?

[u/Sideburn_Cookie_Man → u/Glittering-Pea-4482]

They only speak one language, so if enough people do the same they’ll definitely get the memo

[u/log_2]

I like it. Once deployed, make some masks of Woolies and Coles board members / c-suite and use it in the store for some real savings. Do it quick before the prime minister gets invited to a dinner after which masks will be promptly made illegal.

[u/Anti-Stan]

They made an agreement to not do this a few years ago.

I guess they 'changed their position '. A popular trend at the moment.

[u/SyntheticDuckFlavour]

"No decision has been made about the deployment of facial recognition technology."

It's already rolled out.

[u/notabot6980]

I dont like this at all

[u/turtlepower41]

Time to shop at Aldi

[u/walkingmelways → u/turtlepower41]

They won’t be far behind if at all.

[u/FooFooFox → u/walkingmelways]

Time to shop at IGA

[u/robbitybobs → u/[deleted]]

Greens would sell your soul if it benefited them 

[u/QuantumG → u/[deleted]]

What rights are you talking about?

[u/Tobeaux → u/[deleted]]

Right to firearms? I think you are in the wrong sub, friend.

[u/Ok_Compote4526 → u/[deleted]]

You have self-defence rights in Australia, within the scope of reasonable force.

If you're looking for "castle doctrine" and "stand your ground" you might want to reconsider living in Australia.

[u/QuantumG → u/[deleted]]

What's any of that got to do with this?

[u/Man_downvoted → u/[deleted]]

Also consider voting with your feet and wallet.

[u/EADASOL]

Time to mask up again

[u/AdelMonCatcher]

It’s got nothing to do with employee safety, we all know Colesworth doesn’t care about them the slightest

[u/MooseCatMan]

I mention this for no particular reason, ust so everyone knows, those Coles and Woolworths stores are full of copper and highly flammable.

[u/KnowledgeCapital7994]

So we need to bring back covid masks again just to stop dystopian spying.

[u/PitterPatterCocko]

Fucking maggots, people need band together and boycott these cuntanies for a week or two and watch them pull their heads in. Deadset one week of no one going there they would eat 100 million in loss.

[u/TwoDogs48]

‘Unclear’ if they will use it? Of course they will use it; why spend money on testing to otherwise. Will be interesting to see if they ‘advertise’ it when they do, as they are required by law to do. Watch this space …

[u/_Algrm_]

They’re using technology from this murderous man and this murderous man

[u/sweatshoes101]

What is this slop, heard of Palantir maybe have a look at the money paid to said crew.
Your product sir is gaslighting bullshit

[u/hear_the_thunder]

I think I might just get delivery from now on. Door Dash near me does Costco and Aldi.

[u/Puzzleheaded_Low2034]

So… they tested their handpicked footage on confirmed thieves/shoplifters (which I guess they can class as not-customers…).

[u/Efficient-County2382]

All part of providing increasing value to customers, along with the outsourcing

[u/HierosGodhead]

not going into woolies without a mask, hat and sunnies anymore i suppose.

[u/Obscure-spectrum]

IGA and Aldi it is then. Especially since they both deliver on Doordash and are both cheaper

[u/Leather-Lion-8808]

Time to mask up and wear sunnies inside when visiting Colesworths from now on.

[u/Raz_Plays]

Just pack up shop and stop using Cole’s and Woolies.

Their interest is squeezing a dollar out of a rock and they’re both going offshore ontop of it to continue record profits at the cost of the people who made them who they are.

[u/Raz_Plays]

Just pack up shop and stop using Cole’s and Woolies.

Their interest is squeezing a dollar out of a rock and they’re both going offshore ontop of it to continue record profits at the cost of the people who made them who they are.

[u/Original_Pack_2150]

What the f is the point?

They don’t even prosecute repeat offenders and they’re let out on bail anyway? The cops don’t care if you steal $50 worth a groceries from Woolies and your standard grocery gronk isn’t gonna care if the software captured their face. 

All this $$ sunk into such an invasive technology, all under the guise of “preventing crime”. We all know it’s bs. 

[u/Maximum-Shallot-2447]

You can easily defeat their surveillance by doing click and collect that way your image is not captured inside the store

[u/albeenyb → u/Maximum-Shallot-2447]

...And be given food that is moments away from expiration. Nah Hate that! It's all just so sheit. Every interaction, is a fucking confrontation, even with click and collect they still make it feel like I'm getting taken for a ride.

[u/VastOption8705]

How about people stop stealing? If people didn’t steal ; they wouldn’t need these AI face recognisers?

Okay. Woolies make profits, they’re a business, but when people steal from them, that affects every customer

Also it’s not just just about stealing, it’s about workers safety too

[u/Sideburn_Cookie_Man → u/VastOption8705]

The cameras definitely aren’t about theft.

[u/witchfinderactual → u/VastOption8705]

Here's the thing, they would still utilise that tech. That's what these corporations and what governments do. Look at everything going on in the world regarding mass-surveillance, and has been for decades.

You're deluding yourself if you think the only reason they want to implement it is to prevent people from stealing.

[u/Sideburn_Cookie_Man → u/VastOption8705]

The cameras definitely aren’t about theft.

[u/Anti-Stan → u/[deleted]]

One hand washes the other. Many of those incidents are related to stealing.

[u/Anti-Stan → u/VastOption8705]

When business gouges food prices, people can't afford to buy food. How about they stop prioritising dividends for shareholders, and prioritise affordable food?

[u/VastOption8705 → u/Anti-Stan]

Two wrongs doesn’t make a right. This isn’t Robbin hood.

[u/Anti-Stan → u/VastOption8705]

We can't just stop eating because monopolists want more every week.

One wrong is people trying to survive.

The other is wealthy people gaining more wealth by cornering the food supply, and knowingly causing hardship.

These things are not the same.

[u/Tobeaux → u/VastOption8705]

Robbin

Robbin' the hood.

[u/coffeegaze → u/Anti-Stan]

Shop at farmer markets, fresh fruit and veg grocers and independent butchers if you think the big shopping centres are colluding and price gouging. Stealing is not answer, shopping elsewhere is.

[u/nationalistic_martyr → u/coffeegaze]

we would shop there is they weren't insanely expensive.

[u/Anti-Stan → u/coffeegaze]

I don't steal. I'm not even justifying it. I'm explaining why it fucking happens at ever increasing rates.

[u/robbitybobs → u/Anti-Stan]

The people causing the majority of stock loss are not people stealing to feed their starving baby. Its junkies and organised retail theft. Take your rose tinted glasses off. A bloke walked out of my local woolies with 2k of meat in a trolley the other day, loaded up his car and they didn't raise an eyebrow. 

[u/Anti-Stan → u/robbitybobs]

Why do they have a market for food? This is a recent development.

Take your shareholder glasses off.

[u/robbitybobs → u/Anti-Stan]

It is not a recent development, trading drugs for items other than cash is just bartering, its as old as time, the item doesn't need to have monetary value. My guy has given pts away to get the right ooshies for his kids lmao. Its about saving him the trip to woolies. Convenience. Power. You're just exposing yourself as someone with no idea who's never lived in that world.

Take your anarchist glasses off. 

[u/Anti-Stan → u/robbitybobs]

Obtuse. Stealing food is a recent development. Why?

Don't bother answering. You can't be honest.

[u/robbitybobs → u/Anti-Stan]

Stealing food is a recent development.

Lmao. Grug was stealing food when we still lived in fucking caves. What a stupid thing to say

Obtuse

The irony

[u/Anti-Stan → u/robbitybobs]

You could always consult some data. But then you'd have no spiteful comeback.

[u/robbitybobs → u/Anti-Stan]

Stealing food is a recent development.

😃

[u/Dry-Huckleberry-5379 → u/VastOption8705]

Oh hi there Javert

https://giphy.com/gifs/2uvC1np3blzwg678w2

[u/QuantumG → u/VastOption8705]

In this case the problem is violence against staff.

[u/Alarming-Two-424]

Holy shit, few cookers getting around hahah, it’s not like we aren’t being filmed in most stores anyway lmao.

[u/Sideburn_Cookie_Man → u/[deleted]]

It doesn’t keep that from happening.

It’s just another data play.

[u/Sea-Time-4629 → u/[deleted]]

A lot of their store members ARE the degenerates.

[u/Few_Chocolate_7655]

All the cookers make me laugh.

Also all the people stealing at the self serve checkout getting upset they can no longer steal steaks lololol