Aeon – a major Japanese supermarket chain – has implemented a new AI system that evaluates and seeks to "standardize" employee smiles.
On July 1, the company announced the adoption of a "smile-rating AI system" – dubbed "Mr Smile" – in 240 stores across Japan, making Aeon the very first company to employ such technology. Developed by the Japanese company InstaVR, Mr Smile is claimed to accurately assess employees' demeanor and rate their overall attitude based on over 450 factors, including their greeting, facial expressions, voice volume and tone.
Aeon says its goal is to, "standardize staff members' smiles and satisfy customers to the maximum."
Mr Smile incorporates game-like elements to encourage staff to improve their scores and, consequently, their "service attitude" ... to the maximum.
Aeon says it ran a successful trial of the AI software in eight of its stores involving about 3,400 employees and "service attitude" was said to improve by 1.6 times over three months before Aeon's recent rollout to all its stores.
Having that level of constant scrutiny of your every action – down to your smile – throughout your shift would inevitably lead to some form of attitude adjustment, especially in a country very much known for "saving face." But we can't help thinking this technology feels very much like the start of a Black Mirror episode.
Source: South China Morning Post
