{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0678","record_version":1,"title":"Sainsbury's facial recognition wrongly accuses customers of shoplifting; scanners suspended","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":43.1,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":0.0,"completeness":2.88,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: The Guardian · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":1,"reports_independent":1,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":false,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: The Guardian · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"550359696f0417d9fafca80567f55bbb4563f100c81da90120836ee9345464f2"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"unknown","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":"identify shoplifters and other criminals, and keep staff safe from abuse","safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-08-17","incident_class":"other","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"Sainsbury's used Facewatch facial recognition in its East Dulwich store to identify shoplifters and other criminals, and to keep staff safe from abuse. A customer, Matt Arnold, had paid for his items and was then told by managers that he could not be served because of an earlier incident, and he was asked to leave. As he left, an overhead CCTV monitor showed an alert with his face. Sainsbury's said the incident was caused by human error rather than the technology, and Facewatch said its alert was correct but was mishandled in store. Alerts stayed visible on staff devices for up to an hour, and all misidentifications were logged. Sainsbury's apologised the next day and paused use of the technology in that store while an investigation takes place. The company said the store suspension was a precautionary measure while staff received additional training.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":"oversight","root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"minor","severity_because":"Test: minor (contained to one deployer). The quoted sentence names one store and no third party touched.","harm_class":[],"affected_description":null,"protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/17/humiliated-sainsburys-store-pauses-ai-scanning-after-false-shoplifting-accusation","publisher":"The Guardian","date":"2026-08-17","type":"press","title":"Sainsbury’s store pauses AI scanning after false shoplifting accusation - The Guardian","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report","independence":"independent"}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.intended_use":"C","event.root_cause":"C","context.industry":"C","event.incident_class":"D","impact.severity":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","event.detection_method":"D","context.country":"D","system.developer":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.intended_use":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The supermarket chain uses facial recognition technology to identify shoplifters and other criminals, and says this is to keep staff safe from abuse."}],"event.root_cause":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The incident was caused by human error, not the facial recognition technology."}],"context.industry":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The supermarket chain uses facial recognition technology to identify shoplifters and other criminals, and says this is to keep staff safe from abuse."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Sainsbury’s has paused the use of AI face scanning in one of its stores after a customer was wrongly identified as a shoplifter and ejected from the shop."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Sainsbury’s has paused the use of AI face scanning in one of its stores after a customer was wrongly identified as a shoplifter and ejected from the shop."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Sainsbury’s has paused the use of AI face scanning in one of its stores after a customer was wrongly identified as a shoplifter and ejected from the shop."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The supermarket chain uses facial recognition technology to identify shoplifters and other criminals, and says this is to keep staff safe from abuse."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"he was approached by two managers who told him he could not be served owing to an earlier incident."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"As he left, he saw an overhead CCTV monitor alert with a red circle surrounding his face."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The incident was caused by human error, not the facial recognition technology."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"A correct alert was sent to the retailer, but was subsequently subject to human error in the way it was handled in store,"},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Sainsbury’s said that alerts remained visible on staff devices for up to an hour and it logged all misidentifications."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Sainsbury’s head office apologised to Arnold the next day and has paused use of its AI-assisted Facewatch technology in the store while an investigation takes place."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The company said suspending a store was a “precautionary measure” to prevent further alerts while staff underwent additional training."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"The sources do not state the incident date; the article is dated 2026-08-17 and the apology was 'the next day', so date_occurred, date_detected and date_disclosed were left out. Only the press article is given, with no regulator or government evaluation. The system is a facial recognition product (Facewatch) rather than an autonomous agent, so agent_involved is false and no failure_class is given. Incident_class 'other' and root_cause 'oversight' are my judgements from the human-error statements; no trigger is stated. The parties dispute whether the match was correct: Arnold calls the identification wrong, while Facewatch says the alert was correct. The 99.98% accuracy figure is a Sainsbury's claim and is unverified. No model name, version, developer, autonomy level, harness or tool list is stated. The number of affected parties is not stated. Harm_class was left out because the sources describe humiliation, which fits no closed category. Severity 'minor' is my judgement from the stated single-store scope. The Rajah and Home Bargains/B&M cases are other incidents and were excluded. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (1 report: The Guardian · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":"retail","org_size_band":null,"country":"unknown","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"reached","text":"Managers told the customer he could not be served and asked him to leave.","quote":"he was approached by two managers who told him he could not be served owing to an earlier incident.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"caught","text":"The customer saw the alert on an overhead monitor as he left the store.","quote":"As he left, he saw an overhead CCTV monitor alert with a red circle surrounding his face.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"done","text":"Sainsbury's apologised and paused use of the technology in the store while investigating.","quote":"Sainsbury’s head office apologised to Arnold the next day and has paused use of its AI-assisted Facewatch technology in the store while an investigation takes place.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/17/humiliated-sainsburys-store-pauses-ai-scanning-after-false-shoplifting-accusation"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"As he left the store, the customer saw an overhead CCTV monitor alert with a red circle around his face.","quote":"As he left, he saw an overhead CCTV monitor alert with a red circle surrounding his face.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"Sainsbury's head office apologised to the customer and paused use of the technology in the store.","quote":"Sainsbury’s head office apologised to Arnold the next day and has paused use of its AI-assisted Facewatch technology in the store while an investigation takes place.","source_index":0,"when":"the next day"},{"text":"The store was suspended as a precautionary measure while staff underwent additional training.","quote":"The company said suspending a store was a “precautionary measure” to prevent further alerts while staff underwent additional training.","source_index":0,"when":null}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/17/humiliated-sainsburys-store-pauses-ai-scanning-after-false-shoplifting-accusation"]}}