No more bank cards, Amazon extends payment with the palm of the hand

Bank cards are still popular in the French, but new means of payment are emerging. While mobile payments struggle to explain (unlike contactless), Amazon wants to allow you to pay… with your palm. The American e-commerce giant is working on a payment system based on biometrics from 2020. Called Amazon One, it works by reading users’ palm prints and was expected to find a place in Amazon Go cashier-free stores.

Amazon quickly expanded its ambitions to pass on this technology as a new service. In addition to paying in its physical stores, the firm allows you to pay for your purchases by scanning the palm of your hand at more than 150 points of sale (stadiums, airports, fitness centers, etc.). This solution can also be used in American stores such as Whole Foods or Panera Bread. With the new Amazon One app, the company is ready to give us up on bank cards.

Amazon One: AI makes payments easy with the palm of your hand

Until now, you had to physically visit a store to validate your registration for the Amazon One service. Those who wanted to pay this way had to buy a compatible device. The new Amazon One app, available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, makes the sign-up process much easier.

Thanks to artificial intelligence, it is now possible to register to pay with your hands from anywhere. After creating your profile by connecting to your Amazon account, just take a photo of your palm to validate the registration. Everything is done directly in the app and then you can use Amazon One as you wish. Note that the service is currently primarily for the United States.

To make registration secure, the Amazon app was developed using Generative AI. The latter analyzes the photographed palm and its underlying vein structure, then creates a unique digital and vector representation. Called a palm signature, it makes it possible to establish an identity match. During checkout, the registration will be compared with the image captured by the Amazon One device to finalize it.

Is it safe?

According to Amazon, this functionality and the use of AI gives an accuracy of 99.9999% when cross-checking palm data. Allows comparison between vector representations and images captured from Amazon One devices “To confirm that the person who swipes their palm on an Amazon One device is the same person who signed up for the service using the app”. Collecting and using biometric data for identification and payment purposes raises privacy and security concerns.

The e-commerce giant insists that the customer “Always in Control”. Palm recognition cannot be intentional; The customer should make an active and deliberate gesture by passing their palm over the device. Additionally, the device does not discriminate by gender or ethnicity by not being able to accurately sense sex or skin time. “Unlike a credit card or password, your Amazon One palm signature cannot be copied to steal your identity”Also suggests the company to highlight the security and accuracy of its device.

Finally, Palm data is not stored on Amazon One devices. They are encrypted and sent to the firm’s secure cloud (AWS), which has access “Heavily Restricted”. Additionally, it is not shared with advertisers or government agencies.

A French company is following in Amazon’s footsteps

In France, the company Ingenico is currently developing a comparable technology. It allows you to pay for purchases from the palm of your hand and should appear in supermarkets soon. Tests are planned for late 2024 and in case you were wondering: “ If I cut your arm and you bleed, it doesn’t work.cites Romain Colnet, innovation manager at Ingenico.

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