NeuroTags – Fighting counterfeit products using AI

NeuroTags is a Pune based startup. It was started by Nitin Gupta, Yogesh Miharia, and Abhishek Agarwal.

The founders wanted to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to detect counterfeit products.

The idea is get rid of radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags and holograms which are generally used to detect counterfeits.

When starting this startup, they thought about how holograms (three-dimensional image formed by the interference of light beams) are affordable but they can be replicated rather easily.

At the same time, RFID tags which use radio waves to read and capture information based on an attached tag can be expensive. They can cost ₹10 to ₹150 apiece.

According to Nitin Gupta, digital solutions are important to solve this problem or the manufacturing and retail industry can lose a lot of money.

Before NeuroTags, their customers were dependent on RFID tags or holograms.

Due to how common counterfeiting is, companies are not able to properly track their own supply chain in market and collect end-consumer data.

This made the distribution network remain dark.

Thanks to the AI technology of NeuroTags, they have built mathematically coupled tags which are like open and protected.

The open tag is put on the external cover of the package. It can be scanned by anyone with a smartphone to get information on the product.

The tag will work as an indication that the product is authentic.

If the open tag is scanned, it indicates that the product has been sold. After the purchase, the buyer now has access to the protected tag which is inside the sealed product.

This protected tag now be scanned and the customer gets information related to the product authenticity. This scan automatically registers the product to the buyer.

The scanned code is also sent to a server based on AI. As a result, based on the GPS of the scan, the route taken to reach the end-consumer will be noted down as well.

In this way, NeuroTags uses innovation to fight counterfeits.

Image Reference: Yourstory