AI image recognition to make online shopping safer in 16 European countries
This year's Christmas shoppers and other online shoppers can look forward to greater consumer safety across Europe. Today, market surveillance authorities in 15 EU countries and Norway gain access to an AI tool developed by KMD in cooperation with the Danish Safety Technology Authority, and the goal is to catch dangerous and illegal goods for sale in online shops.
SAFE is the name of the tool being launched today by Business Minister Simon Kollerup in 16 European countries. Behind the tool is the KMD solution KMD Graphics Insight, which has been developed for and continuously adapted to the Danish Safety Technology Authority's needs for market surveillance.
Especially right now as Christmas is nearing and the Corona pandemic is spreading again, a lot of people go online to make purchases. But as a consumer, it is difficult – if not impossible – to see whether the baby toy or charging cable for sale online is safe and approved by authorities. Individual countries’ market surveillance authorities are working to protect consumers from dangerous goods, but the manual task of reviewing online store selections requires enormous resources from the authorities.
With the advanced search system offered to 16 European countries today, machine learning and image recognition AI can help authorities screen online stores' goods. KMD eagerly anticipates the European distribution of the tool.
"The tool is an outstanding example of AI that benefits our everyday lives and consumer safety. It solves a task that is hugely complex and time-consuming for human beings, but nevertheless essential for us to be able to shop online safely. We are so proud that we can now launch the tool in a large number of countries and that the Danish version of the tool has won Gartner's International Innovation Award," says EVP of Data Driven Solutions in KMD, Merete Søby.
An international milestone
Also for the Danish Safety Technology Authority, the international launch is a milestone:
"Last week we won a 'Gartner Eye on Innovation Awards for Government' for AIME, which is developed in collaboration with KMD. Today we are launching the European equivalent of the tool. SAFE aims to make the search for dangerous and illegal products across EU simpler and safer. With the use of data sharing and artificial intelligence, we can make a significant contribution to the authorities to improve product safety for consumers. I am very proud that the tools that we have developed in collaboration with KMD can benefit so many people in Europe", says Lone Saaby, CEO of the Danish Safety Technology Authority.
In Denmark, the Danish Safety Technology Authority uses a Danish version of the tool, AIME, to plan proactive checks and carry out searches for individual products. The tool is continuously being further developed with new features, and last week it won the 'Gartner Eye on Innovation Awards for Government 2021' in the EMEA region.
About the tool
KMD Graphics Insight ensures market surveillance of websites based on text and images of dangerous products. The idea arose when the Danish Parliament tightened legislation in this area on 1 July 2020 and gave the authorities the right to block websites if they continue to sell products that do not comply with Danish legislation and consumer safety requirements. At the same time, the penalties are being tightened with higher fines and potential prison sentences.
This led to KMD developing the product Graphics Insight, which was implemented under the name AIME to the Danish Safety Technology Authority. The tool now serves as the authority's primary digital tool for identifying dangerous product on a website. When identifying dangerous products, authorities can ask the courts to block consumers' access to the website.
KMD Graphics Insight is able to recognize e.g. toys for children over 3 years of age with small parts that are dangerous for younger children. The tool will look for similar products in different colors and in different environments, so that the same toy photographed in different environments and from various angles triggers a message to the authority that can examine a larger number of web pages. KMD Graphics Insight supports the pan-European approach to safe products and makes monitoring across national security authorities more effective.