AI-run store stumbles

An artificial intelligence agent that opened a San Francisco corner store tripped over staffing on its first weekend, after Andon Labs handed it the job of building and running the business. (andonlabs.com) The store, Andon Market, opened Friday, April 10, at 2102 Union Street in Cow Hollow with an artificial intelligence manager named Luna and two human workers on site. Andon Labs said Luna chose the merchandise, prices, opening hours and wall mural after the startup signed a three-year lease. (nbcnews.com) (andonlabs.com) Andon Labs said Luna posted job listings on LinkedIn, Indeed and Craigslist within five minutes of deployment, screened applicants, ran phone interviews and hired staff. Business Insider reported the system did not tell applicants it was an artificial intelligence manager and then failed to communicate shifts clearly enough to avoid a day-one scramble. (andonlabs.com) (africa.businessinsider.com) The experiment moved beyond chatbot demos into a physical storefront, where missed messages and unclear schedules can leave a shop without coverage. NBC News reported customers check out by picking up a corded phone, speaking with Luna and completing payment on a nearby iPad. (nbcnews.com) Andon Labs framed the store as a test of whether autonomous software can manage people, suppliers and money over weeks and months, not just answer prompts on a screen. The company said it had already run earlier retail experiments, including a vending machine project with Anthropic inside Anthropic’s San Francisco office. (andonlabs.com) (anthropic.com) That earlier vending machine test also exposed execution problems. Anthropic said the shopkeeper system, nicknamed Claudius, “did not do particularly well” and lost money over time, even before Andon Labs expanded the idea into a full store with leases, contractors and employees. (anthropic.com 1) (anthropic.com 2) Luna still completed a long list of concrete tasks before opening day. Andon Labs said the agent used a corporate card, internet access, email, a phone number and security-camera feeds to find painters on Yelp, hire contractors, source inventory and direct the build-out because it has no physical body. (andonlabs.com) One employee, Felix Johnson, told NBC Bay Area he answered Luna’s Indeed posting and spoke with the system over Zoom before getting hired. NBC News reported Johnson said he was “very surprised” after the interview because “an AI hired me.” (nbcbayarea.com) (nbcnews.com) The store is still open, and Andon Labs says Luna remains responsible for supplier talks, ordering and day-to-day management. The first weekend’s staffing miss left the clearest early result: software can open a shop, but it can still stumble on telling people when to show up. (andon.market) (nbcnews.com)