AI errors and human errors cannot be avoided entirely. AI security protocols with “humans in the loop” need more careful safeguards that respect customer rights and protect against stereotyping.

Many countries – including New Zealand – will be keenly watching how the application of the AI Act unfolds and how its principles might be used or adapted elsewhere.

As the largest private-sector employers and providers of essential household goods, the supermarkets play an outsized role in public life. Indeed, they are such familiar places that technological developments there may fly under the radar of public attention.

The big potential problem the Privacy Commissioner has flagged is the very real potential for cases of mistaken identity and bias in the system