Starbucks has abandoned its artificial intelligence-based inventory tool after just nine months. The system used by company employees often misidentified products, mislabeled them, and in some cases, did not register them at all, Reuters reported, citing internal documents and sources.
The tool, called Automated Counting, was introduced in all Starbucks stores in North America in September 2025. The project was supported by the company's CEO Brian Niccol, who considered product shortages in stores to be one of the main reasons for the decline in sales.
The system worked like this: employees would point a tablet at shelves with milk, syrup and other products, and the application would automatically scan the products using lidar sensors and a camera. However, according to employees, the program often mixed up products with each other, mislabeled them, or did not see some products at all.
Internal correspondence indicates that Starbucks employees welcomed the decision to discontinue the system. One employee noted that “the idea was good, but the implementation was very difficult.”
