AiFi emerges from stealth with its own take on cashier-free retail, similar to Amazon Go

Following the launch of Amazon's cashless, cashier-free Amazon Go convenience store in Seattle, a startup called AiFi is emerging from stealth today to announce the availability of its own checkout-free solution for retailers. But unlike Amazon Go, AiFi claims its A.I., sensor and camera network-based system can scale from a small mom-and-pop all the way up to a big retailer with tens of thousands of square feet and a hundred thousand products. Based in Santa Clara, AiFi was founded in January 2016 by Steve Gu and Ying Zheng, a married couple whose previous experience includes time spent at both Google and Apple. Gu, a PhD in computer science from Duke, worked on 3D Touch and Force Touch technologies while at Apple. He later went to Google X where he developed technologies for Google Glass. Zheng, also a PhD in computer science from Duke, first worked at Google Research, then later went to Apple, where she was a senior research scientist.