🤖 Are Indian tech companies leading the way again? The startup Inkryptis has created a system that literally sees the difference between a shopper and a thief. The algorithm analyzes video streams and understands where a person puts an item — in the cart or in their pocket.
While others are testing “smart cameras” in warehouses, Inkryptis is already operating in stores. The idea is simple: replace security guards and cashiers with a neural network that doesn’t blink, doesn’t get tired, and doesn’t take sick leave.
The “checkout-free store” technologies are already familiar — Amazon Go and other retail giants made them famous. But while Amazon builds infrastructure costing millions of dollars, Inkryptis offers software that can be installed even in a small supermarket.
The difference is in scale and price. Now such algorithms can operate in every local store. And while AI used to catch thieves, now it will also observe how we move, where we look, and how many seconds we hold a chocolate bar before putting it back.
This is no longer just a security technology — it’s a tool for behavioral analytics. Based on data about a shopper’s movement and gaze trajectories, AI will be able to predict what a person will buy, where they will stop, and even when they will leave the store.
For businesses — a goldmine: products can be placed exactly where people linger most, optimizing space for sales. For shoppers — a new intrusion into personal space. The phrase “under the camera’s eye” now takes on a literal digital meaning.
In India, they are already joking that the next Bollywood melodrama will be called “Love, Cart, and Neural Network” — about how an algorithm suspected an innocent shopper of theft. But behind the jokes lies a worrying trend: technologies created “for good” are increasingly turning into tools of total control.
BuilderAI: from “unicorn” to exposé
If Inkryptis is an example of technological progress, the story of BuilderAI is the other side of the coin, where behind the mask of innovation hid good old human labor.
The company, founded by two Indian entrepreneurs in 2016, promised a revolution: anyone could create an app just by describing it in a chat with the smart neural network Natasha.
World-class investors took the bait: SoftBank, Insight Partners, Microsoft. BuilderAI raised about $480 million and soon became a “unicorn” valued at $1.5 billion. The world believed that “Natasha” was a real AI developer capable of automating the most complex processes.
But in 2025, an investigation by The Wall Street Journal revealed that the “miracle AI” never existed. Instead of algorithms, hundreds of employees manually created app prototypes and fixed errors. Clients thought their projects were managed by AI, but in reality, tasks were distributed among ordinary people, often for pennies. The company even had internal instructions on how to simulate neural network behavior: delay responses, use random phrases, create the “illusion of thinking.”
BuilderAI continued to claim its AI could create programs “from scratch” in minutes. In reality, everything relied on a team of people and the use of third-party APIs. The company falsified reports, overstated profits, and artificially inflated its valuation. After a series of revelations and losing investors, the startup filed for bankruptcy.
The BuilderAI story became the biggest scandal in the AI industry in recent years. It showed how easily real technology can be replaced by marketing and how the desire for quick investments drives companies to deception. “Natasha” turned out not to be a neural network but a symbol of an era — when everything from Excel scripts to human endurance is sold under the guise of AI.
After the scandal, investors began demanding transparency. Now, during due diligence, attention is paid not only to the idea but also to the technical code, checking whether “the AI itself” really exists.
🔍 The world of AI is rapidly maturing. The stories of Inkryptis and BuilderAI are like two poles of the modern AI world. One startup creates technology that actually works but raises ethical and privacy questions. The other promised technology that didn’t exist at all.
A video clip of a shopper can be viewed on our Telegram channel.
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