Uses of AI and automation technologies in the retail sector: benefits and challenges among focus group participants that these conditions were not always, perhaps even rarely, met. In relation to health and safety, while advances in robotics mean that they can perform a greater range of tasks with greater precision, their remain limits as to the feasibility of what they can do for the necessary investment. For some tasks, human labour is still cheaper, more flexible and more cost effective than the cost of developing and maintaining a robot, and can have qualities that are hard to replicate with robots. This means that while robots can perform the most arduous tasks, making the remaining tasks less physically demanding, human workers are often still required to work in close proximity to robots. It was reported that in one highly roboticized warehouse at Amazon in the United States the injuries were three to four times higher than the industry average. 28 Another challenge, raised by focus group participants, in relation to automation under the most extreme scenario, is that the tax system in most countries is not set up in such a way to account for a future where an increasing share of productivity comes from technology and automation. Robots are not taxed in the same way as workers and in most cases corporation tax is much lower than income tax, further en­couraging deployment of labour-saving technologies. Thus, there could be a potential shortfall of tax receipts if increases in the tax paid on profits do not match reductions in income tax from workers. Particularly if aggregate working hours were to decline. This could have implications for the func­tioning of welfare states, particularly if there is substantial technological unemployment. However, reflecting academic debates on the future of work, focus group participants were undecided as to whether the balance would be towards job destruction due to automation or job creation due to productivity gains and increased demand. One participant noted that while Amazon, a retailer that is at the forefront of automation, uses automation and robotics extensively in its warehouses their workforce is still expanding, which suggests that the productivity benefits may lead to more not fewer jobs. 2.9 AUTOMATED/SELF-SERVICE HR management and improving staff access to HR services. Prior to the introduction, staff had to find time to go to a laptop to access work communications via email, with the smartphone they could get communications straight away and could con­tact their manager and human resources much more easily. While these advantages were welcomed by focus group participants there were also concerns that the use of AI in employee management systems could also be used for worker surveillance, monitoring and control. Also, where AI and ML were used to automate HR decision making there were concerns about transparency and privacy and the use of employee data. As with other uses of AI, there were concerns opaque nature of algorithmic decision making, whereby decisions could be made, or even just informed, by a ›black box‹ process without workers or even managers having any knowledge or control over what information was being used by the system to make decisions or recommen­dations. Greater transparency and engagement with worker representatives could go some way to alleviating such con­cerns. There were also concerns about the ›scientification‹ of HR processes and decision-making whereby decisions are perceived to be made on an objective basis and therefore cannot be questioned by workers or even managers. Additionally, focus group participants raised concerns that work smart devices could be used to monitor staff wherea­bouts and communications in new ways, including e-com­merce and other retail workers working remotely during the pandemic. As noted in section 3.6, there were concerns that extensive data gathering and AI was enabling surveil­lance and monitoring on unprecedented levels, leading to concerns about privacy and trust. One participant reported that, in the call centre of a large retail firm in Belgium, the recording of a personal call by a young call centre employee to his colleagues was later played by a manager to wider colleagues in order to make fun of the employee. While this example is may well be a breach of company policy and the worker’s rights, it raises questions about which communica­tions should or should not reasonably be recorded. 2.10 AUGMENTED/VIRTUAL REALITY AND MACHINE VISION Advancements in AI and ML have enabled retail companies to automate a number of HR processes and functions. For example, in the USA Walmart developed a machine learning algorithm to help rank applicants for store-level vacancies 29 and in Europe Carrefour have started to implement self-ser­vice system so that workers can access a range of HR services including payslips, schedules and training resources. 30 In the latter case, Carrefour reportedly provide a smartphone for everyone working in the store, which cannot be used outside of the store but can be used to contact human resources and access information related to products, their job, training, etc. Apart from having the advantages for the retailer and customers of enabling staff to access up-to-date information on products and stock availability, the device had the added benefits to employees and the organisation of improving the speed and efficiency of communication between staff and A number of retailers have started to adopt a number of applications that use virtual or augmented reality(AR) and machine vision. These range from phone or tablet-based product visualisation systems, in-store and online, that enable customers to see what outfits look like in different contexts, 31 and apps that can determine body shape and make clothing recommendations, to machine vision appli­cations that can detect counterfeit products 32 or fraudulent customer behaviours like ›item swapping‹ missed scan detec­tion at checkouts. 33 AR-based systems, such as those used by Walmart and Tilly’s, can also be used to create treasure hunt and mini-games as marketing tools to try to drive consumers into stores. 34 Such systems have a number benefits for retailers consumers and retailers. New ›digital catwalk‹ technologies create web­11