Can AI and Machine Learning Help Pawnbrokers Sleep Better?

14 Oct Can AI and Machine Learning Help Pawnbrokers Sleep Better?

In his book ‘Outlive’, Peter Attia M.D. comments that the Science & Art of Longevity would tell any pawnbroker, consistently good nights of sleep are one of the most important steps one can take towards a productive next day at the pawn counter and a long, fulfilling, healthy life. In my 20 plus years of working primarily with pawnbrokers in the security industry, I’ve learned a lot about the issues that keep them up at night. While studying the expansion and evolution of AI strategies for business, I’ve started to ask myself, can AI be the secret to the average pawnbroker’s healthy night of sleep?

I must admit part of my focus on AI comes from the geeky side of me that is constantly fascinated with the ever-expanding possibilities of Artificial Intelligence. But the AI solutions I’m talking about aren’t something out of a sci-fi movie where our computer overlords eradicate the need for human work. I believe in AI technology that instead works in direct collaboration with human beings to provide the best service possible. This is best summarized through the concept of collective intelligence, which used to mean intuitive intelligence shared between human collaborators. For example, your staff in the pawnshop has their own collective intelligence built by the work experience they share. But nowadays, as AI has revolutionized the limits of intelligence, it now means the possibilities of knowledge that emerge between humans and machines working together. In the next few paragraphs, I will share relevant key points on how to build an AI security strategy for pawnshops that doesn’t exclude human involvement but works through a strategy of collective intelligence.

1. AI is a tool that can be used to enhance humans’ ability to monitor and protect facilities. AI tools can analyze hundreds of images every second, and can effectively identify people, vehicles, and animals in those images. However, AI cannot replace humans’ unique ability to make complex decisions with limited information. It can tell that there are two people in the store after hours, but it cannot conclusively decide to dispatch the police or sound the alarm. These are decisions humans must make. Therefore, an AI monitoring system should always work in collaboration with a well trained and equipped human security analyst in a monitoring center.
2. Because machines never sleep on the job, AI can watch your store inside and out without missing a beat. Contrary to human security guards staring at the monitor and dying of boredom, machines do not lose attention, get tired or take breaks. This makes AI based solutions the most affordable and effective option for automated store monitoring and intrusion detection. But of course, that monitoring is only truly successful when paired with a human verification.
3. When it comes to intrusion response after hours, every second counts. AI based intrusion detection systems can be programmed to automatically turn on multiple alarms while employing defense mechanisms to throw the intruder off their game. Strobe lights, smoke bombs, high power loudspeakers, and pre-recorded messages can all be activated upon detection and start working while the threat is being verified by the monitoring center, and even before an alert gets to your personal phone.
4. The same AI system used to detect burglars after hours can help you curtail shoplifting during the day or find that new hire who loves to waste time on his phone in the storage room. Your staff can receive alerts whenever a client enters that corner of the showroom that’s hidden from the pawn counter. Or notify your manager whenever someone goes to that one aisle in the storage area. The possibilities for detail-oriented monitoring with AI are endless.
5. License plate and face recognition are other important AI tools available to every pawnbroker that can greatly improve security, loss prevention and customer service. It is an effective way of identifying VIP customers, people who have tried to sell stolen or fake merchandise, or even be notified when a client that you’ve lost touch with walks back into the store. However, some cities like San Francisco and states such as Illinois prohibit the use of face recognition. There are also federal privacy laws regulating how face recognition and other AI technologies can be used. No one wants to deploy such tools and end up with a lawsuit against their pawnshop. That’s why pawnbrokers must select security vendors that truly understand technological limitations and legal implications involved in its use.

Going back to my main question, can AI and machine learning help pawnbrokers sleep better? The answer is YES. AI can provide a huge improvement to how pawnbrokers manage their stores, which would almost certainly help them sleep better at night. But the secret to improving one’s peace of mind through the implementation of AI tools, is having those tools in constant collaboration with real people. There is only one sure thing about AI: sooner or later, you will have to use it if you want to remain relevant, safe and secure. So, implement AI tools into your security strategy by using a method that employs modern collective intelligence, and you’ll be ready for what the future has in store for you.

Author’s Note:

There is more to security AI than a short Newsletter article can describe. I am always available to help a pawnbroker find his way through this AI journey, so please feel free to reach out to me anytime through emailing roberto@eyeson.biz.

Edited by: Soleil Doering.