Sainsbury’s pauses AI face scans in East Dulwich after wrongful ejection

Sainsbury’s has paused its AI-assisted facial recognition system in its East Dulwich store after a customer was wrongly identified as a shoplifter and asked to leave. Matt Arnold, a 46-year-old comedy promoter, was buying supplies for a stand-up event at Dulwich Hamlet football club on 16 August when staff approached him at the checkout.

Arnold told The Guardian he was informed he could not be served due to an earlier incident. Two managers attempted to escort him from the store. He refused, insisting on leaving under his own steam. As he exited, he noticed a CCTV monitor displaying his face circled in red, marked as an alert.

System claims high accuracy despite errors

Sainsbury’s uses Facewatch, an AI system designed to identify known shoplifters. The company said the technology has a 99.98% accuracy rate. A spokesperson told The Guardian the incident involving Arnold was caused by human error, not a failure of the facial recognition software.

Arnold was allowed to leave his shopping in a trolley. His colleague later collected and paid for the items. He described the experience as humiliating and said staff followed the system’s alert without question. Sainsbury’s apologised the following day and suspended the technology in the East Dulwich store while investigating.

Previous false identification in Elephant and Castle

This is not the first time Sainsbury’s Facewatch system has wrongly identified a customer. In September 2025, Warren Rajah was ordered to leave a store in Elephant and Castle after the system flagged him incorrectly. Similar incidents have been reported in other retailers using the same technology, including Home Bargains and B&M.

Facewatch said the alert in Arnold’s case was correct but mishandled by staff. The company described the store suspension as a precautionary measure to allow additional staff training. Sainsbury’s said alerts remain visible on staff devices for up to an hour and all misidentifications are logged.

Arnold calls for wider suspension of AI surveillance

Arnold has urged Sainsbury’s to suspend Facewatch across all stores until the system can be guaranteed flawless. He expressed concern about the broader use of AI in society, particularly its potential impact on vulnerable individuals. He questioned why the technology was not paused in every store if a problem was identified in one.

He told The Guardian he does not oppose surveillance when necessary but objects to machines making decisions that humans then follow without question. Sainsbury’s has not indicated whether it will extend the suspension beyond the East Dulwich store.

What happens next

Sainsbury’s is retraining staff at the East Dulwich store. The supermarket chain has not confirmed whether the suspension will be lifted or extended. Facewatch continues to operate in other Sainsbury’s locations. Arnold has not ruled out further action but has not specified what form it might take.