Bengaluru techie deploys AI surveillance system to monitor cook, fires her after detecting theft
A Bengaluru-based technology worker deployed an AI-powered vision system in his kitchen to monitor his cook's activities. The system, which he named his "AI roommate," reportedly detected the cook stealing fruit from the refrigerator on multiple occasions, leading him to terminate her employment.
What happened
Pankaj, a Bengaluru-based techie, deployed an AI-powered vision system in his kitchen he called his 'AI roommate' to monitor his cook while she prepared meals.
The system monitored kitchen activities and sent Pankaj instant alerts whenever it detected the cook taking items from the refrigerator, reportedly catching her stealing fruit on multiple occasions within a week.
Reported impact
Pankaj terminated the cook's employment after the AI system caught her stealing fruit twice in one week, according to his account.
Index analysis
The system used Anthropic's Claude Haiku 4.5 as the vision model, with face detection running locally and faces blurred before processing by the large language model.
Pankaj stated he trained the system to monitor additional activities including whether the cook washed her hands before cooking and cleaned surfaces afterward, and planned to add gas detection and idle-time tracking in future versions.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
This record was researched and written by the Index from original reporting. Its sources are still being verified by an editor, and they are listed here once that check is complete. Until then the record carries no reviewer.