'Caught her twice… fired her': How Bengaluru techie caught his cook stealing using AI roommate
This "AI roommate" monitors activity in kitchen while the cook prepares meals, sends instant notifications whenever it detects that something is being taken. It also generates weekly summaries of activity
- Mar 2, 2026,
- Updated Mar 2, 2026 4:09 PM IST
A Bengaluru-based tech professional has claimed that an AI-powered monitoring system he built helped him catch his cook allegedly stealing fruits from his refrigerator. The man, identified as Pankaj, shared details of the incident on X, where he regularly posts about experimental AI devices he develops.
How the 'AI roommate' works
Pankaj described the setup as an "AI roommate" that monitors activity in his kitchen while the cook prepares meals. According to him, the system sends instant notifications whenever it detects that something is being taken. He added that it also generates weekly summaries of activity.
He said he trained the system not only to track items being removed from the refrigerator but also to check hygiene practices, such as whether the cook washed her hands before cooking and cleaned the kitchen slabs afterward. Pankaj claimed he caught her twice in one week and subsequently terminated her employment. He also mentioned plans to upgrade the system by adding gas leak detection and tracking idle time in the kitchen.
The tech behind the system
Pankaj explained that he is currently using Anthropic's Claude Haiku 4.5 as the vision model behind the system. He intends to migrate the setup to a local model running on a Raspberry Pi so that it can function entirely offline. He said facial detection is processed locally and faces are blurred before being analysed by the larger language model.
Online reactions and debate
The post quickly gained traction online, drawing mixed reactions. Some users questioned whether visible cameras would deter wrongdoing in the first place. In response, Pankaj said that while the cook was cautious initially, she eventually assumed he would not review hours of footage. He also clarified that he had confronted her twice before setting up the system.
Another user suggested that he could have simply offered food instead of taking strict action. Pankaj replied that he had no objection to sharing food with permission but objected to what he described as repeated theft.
A Bengaluru-based tech professional has claimed that an AI-powered monitoring system he built helped him catch his cook allegedly stealing fruits from his refrigerator. The man, identified as Pankaj, shared details of the incident on X, where he regularly posts about experimental AI devices he develops.
How the 'AI roommate' works
Pankaj described the setup as an "AI roommate" that monitors activity in his kitchen while the cook prepares meals. According to him, the system sends instant notifications whenever it detects that something is being taken. He added that it also generates weekly summaries of activity.
He said he trained the system not only to track items being removed from the refrigerator but also to check hygiene practices, such as whether the cook washed her hands before cooking and cleaned the kitchen slabs afterward. Pankaj claimed he caught her twice in one week and subsequently terminated her employment. He also mentioned plans to upgrade the system by adding gas leak detection and tracking idle time in the kitchen.
The tech behind the system
Pankaj explained that he is currently using Anthropic's Claude Haiku 4.5 as the vision model behind the system. He intends to migrate the setup to a local model running on a Raspberry Pi so that it can function entirely offline. He said facial detection is processed locally and faces are blurred before being analysed by the larger language model.
Online reactions and debate
The post quickly gained traction online, drawing mixed reactions. Some users questioned whether visible cameras would deter wrongdoing in the first place. In response, Pankaj said that while the cook was cautious initially, she eventually assumed he would not review hours of footage. He also clarified that he had confronted her twice before setting up the system.
Another user suggested that he could have simply offered food instead of taking strict action. Pankaj replied that he had no objection to sharing food with permission but objected to what he described as repeated theft.