Sainsbury's suspends use of AI cameras in branch after customer wrongly accused of being a shoplifter

By KRISTINA WEMYSS, GENERAL NEWS REPORTER Published: 12:51, 17 August 2026 | Updated: 12:51, 17 August 2026 Sainsbury’s has halted its use of live facial recognition technology at one of its branches after a customer was wrongly identified as a shoplifter and asked to leave. Matt Arnold, 46, was stopped by managers at a self-service checkout after AI cameras linked him to an incident ‘earlier in the week’. He was buying supplies for a stand-up comedy event, and had scanned his items alongside his Nectar loyalty card when he waved an attendant over to approve alcohol. To his surprise, two managers arrived, and he was escorted out of the store in East Dulwich, south-east London. Describing the experience as a ‘terrifying glimpse of the future’, Mr Arnold, a comedy promoter, warned that the technology risks humiliating customers. ‘The staff said I'd been identified by the AI, and the cameras had flagged me,’ he told the BBC. ‘A shoplifter does not walk around with that much shopping, they don't scan it through, they don't put their Nectar card through. ‘What upset me was thinking this is what the future could be - people just listen to what the machine tells them to do without thinking about the consequences.’ A Sainsbury's spokesman has confirmed the technology has been paused at the Dulwich store while an investigation takes place As he was kicked out on August 6, Mr Arnold said he saw an overhead CCTV monitor displaying an alert and a red circle around his face. Sainsbury's head office contacted him the following day to apologise, maintaining the incident had been caused by ‘human error’ rather than software failure. It is not the first time an innocent shopper has been wrongly singled out by Sainsbury's staff in confusion over the technology. Warren Rajah, from Elephant and Castle, told how he was made to feel like a criminal after a similarly ‘Orwellian’ incident in January. Staff approached the data strategist in his local store, asked him to leave and took his shopping. But it later emerged he had been mistaken for another person the AI had previously registered as an offender, who happened to be in the store at the same time. That incident was also put down to ‘human error’ by Sainsbury's and Facewatch, which makes the software. Facewatch has been involved in similar cases with other retailers, including in a Home Bargains store in 2024 and a Cardiff B&M last year. Mr Arnold said he believes staff are struggling to operate the system in busy stores. ‘Even though what happened to me was horrendous, I feel sorry for the staff,’ he said. ‘Mistakes are going to happen. They're not being equipped to implement the AI properly.’ A Sainsbury's spokesman confirmed the technology has been paused at the Dulwich store while an investigation takes place, but defended its wider rollout - citing escalating violence against retail workers. They said: ‘We have contacted Mr Arnold to apologise for his experience. The incident was caused by human error, not the facial recognition technology. ‘Customers can be reassured that the Facewatch system has a 99.98 per cent accuracy rate, and every match is reviewed by a trained manager.’