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If the crocodile’s eyes are wonky, it’s a knockoff.
A spin-off of France-based Cypheme has developed an AI image-recognition model that can identify fake consumer goods after being trained on thousands of images of genuine articles. It says the technology can police the counterfeit black market that accounts for an estimated 2.5% of global commerce, costs companies billions of dollars each year, and has proven deadly when it comes to counterfeit pharmaceuticals.
Vrai AI — named after the French word for “true” — released its software earlier this month. Its first corporate customer is Lacoste, the luxury clothing brand whose iconic crocodile logo makes it a soft target for counterfeiters. Too many teeth or a too-long tail are easy tells, but Vrai focuses on a combination of harder-to-spot signs, said David G. Stork, the company’s chief scientist and an adjunct professor at Stanford University. Stork is a foremost scholar in the application of AI in art, including using the technology to identify forgeries and the presence of uncredited artists in paintings.
The Vrai model can also distinguish normal manufacturing variance — even machines can’t make every logo identically — from fakes, Stork said. The company says its technology is 99.7% accurate.
Lacoste is using Vrai AI to address return fraud. Scammers often purchase authentic products from a company’s website and return counterfeit ones, which are sometimes then resold to new customers. Lacoste’s warehouse employees can use Vrai AI’s app to take a picture of a returned item and verify its authenticity, saving money and keeping knock-offs out of customers’ hands. A slightly off shade of green, an overrotated croc eye, and stitches that are spaced too far apart can trip the model’s AI sensors.
“The consumer doesn’t blame the people creating the fakes,” said Karen Harvey, who runs a fashion consulting firm. “They hold the brand accountable: ‘How did they let this happen? I’m never buying from them again. I don’t trust them.’”
Lacoste didn’t respond to requests for comment.
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The Vrai model was developed inside Cypheme, which sells a counterfeit product solution — stickers with unique codes that attach to merchandise. Sales of those stickers are funding the Vrai arm, which is in the process of being spun out, said the Cypheme co-founder, Charles Garcia.
Vrai AI aims to do the same AI-based detection for counterfeit medicines, which are linked to hundreds of thousands of deaths each year, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Last month, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned of online pharmacies selling millions of counterfeit pills containing fentanyl in the US.
A model could identify visual differences in font size and color on medical packaging. While a partnership with a major drugmaker could give Vrai AI access to the roughly 50,000 photos needed to train its algorithm, the company is also considering taking its own photos, Garcia said.