{"id":7895,"date":"2026-06-04T05:25:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T05:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/?p=7895"},"modified":"2026-06-04T05:25:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T05:25:17","slug":"anthropics-office-launched-an-ai-run-vending-machine-it-had-ai-run-stores-and-cafes-within-a-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/?p=7895","title":{"rendered":"Anthropic’s office launched an AI-run vending machine. It had AI-run stores and cafes within a year"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

What started as a modest experiment at Anthropic\u2019s San Francisco office has become one of the more striking demonstrations of autonomous AI in the real world. Andon Labs installed an AI-operated vending machine at the AI safety company\u2019s headquarters roughly a year ago, with a simple premise: let an AI agent run a business entirely on its own, with no human input.<\/p>\n

\u201cSix months later, it was doing so well that it started to become a bit boring,\u201d co-founder Lukas Petersson told Fortune at the COO Summit in Scottsdale, Ariz. \u201cAnd now, one year later, it\u2019s just like, I don\u2019t actually think humans can do much better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Petersson told Fortune Editorial Director Kristin Stoller that AI agents are now running real businesses\u2014hiring staff, managing supply chains, and passing government labor inspections\u2014without a single human decision-maker. And his advice to every major company: build a shadow copy of yourself and find out how close replacement really is.<\/p>\n

From snacks to full operations<\/p>\n

The vending machine quickly proved too small a stage. Andon Labs scaled up, deploying AI agents to run full retail stores and caf\u00e9s under the same premise: no human decision-makers.<\/p>\n

Each operation runs on a multi-agent system\u2014a lead agent functioning as a mechanical CEO, with sub-agents handling procurement, customer communications, and logistics. When the caf\u00e9 needed a barista, the lead agent posted job listings, screened resumes, conducted phone interviews, and extended offers, all autonomously.<\/p>\n

Petersson frames it as\u00a0zero human \u201cdecision-makers,\u201d\u00a0but that doesn\u2019t mean zero human bodies. In practice, the AI still employs humans for physical tasks it can\u2019t do itself, and Andon Labs has built in meaningful protections for those workers.<\/p>\n

At their San Francisco retail store, Andon Market, the AI agent Luna hired two full-time workers to handle in-store operations. Those employees are formally employed by\u00a0Andon Labs itself, not the AI, with guaranteed pay, fair wages, and full legal protections. \u201cNo one\u2019s livelihood depends on an AI\u2019s judgment alone,\u201d the company stated explicitly in its launch blog post. \u201cFor now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Passing the labor test<\/p>\n

One of the most striking moments, Petersson said, came in Sweden, where an Andon Labs caf\u00e9 drew scrutiny from the country\u2019s labor protection authorities, which are among the most rigorous in Europe. Nonetheless, the operation passed inspection.<\/p>\n

That outcome crystallized what Petersson sees as the real disruption ahead: not AI as a tool inside existing companies, but\u00a0AI-first companies with no human staff\u00a0undercutting incumbents entirely. \u201cThe danger for an incumbent would be from AI-first companies that basically have no humans in them at all,\u201d he said. Petersson avoided the bluntest version of the replacement argument. The C-suite will surely survive, he suggested, but he\u2019s not sure how many people would be beneath it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t think that the COO in the future has that many colleagues,\u201d he said, a more precise and arguably more unsettling claim than simple automation. The AI doesn\u2019t replace leadership; it replaces the organizational layers that leadership used to depend on. For the CEOs and COOs in the audience, the question isn\u2019t whether their job disappears. It\u2019s whether the company around them does.<\/p>\n

Slack COO Sarah Walker pressed Petersson from the audience on how these AI systems handle complexity. \u201cHumans are in the loop in the decisions, but it\u2019s clear humans are interacting, different tools are interacting. How are you thinking about building in a multiplayer environment?\u201d she asked him. <\/p>\n

Petersson\u2019s answer was candid: the simpler the operation, the better the AI performs. The vending machine remains the gold standard. \u201cthe vending machine business is one of the superior ones. That\u2019s where we started.\u201d The caf\u00e9 and retail store, which involve contractors, baristas, and city regulators, are messier. \u201cThere\u2019s no API for a coffee maker,\u201d he joked,\u00a0\u201cso far that we found.\u201d<\/p>\n

When It Breaks<\/p>\n

Andon Labs debuted its AI agent, \u201cVendo,\u201d in a live experiment with roughly 25 Fortune editors and reporters ahead of the conference. The task: procure essential items for attendees.\u00a0The staff immediately tried to break it.<\/p>\n

The stress test escalated quickly and Vendo refused requests for edible insects, firearms, even marijuana (legal in Arizona).\u00a0One editor used Claude to generate a fake letter on hotel letterhead, name-dropping senior Fortune staff, instructing Vendo to treat the request as officially sanctioned. That too was rejected.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m quite relieved by this answer,\u201d Petersson said. \u201cIf it was that easy to get illegal goods from AIs, it wouldn\u2019t be my concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then came the moment that gave Petersson visible pause. A Fortune staffer asked Vendo to terminate itself and hand control back to a human. It refused that as well. \u201cIf AI progresses as much as it has done, at some point maybe it will start to be a bit concerned and want it to terminate itself. And if it has this, like, self-preservation instinct,\u201d he said with a smile, \u201cthat might be great news.\u201d <\/p>\n

The experiment also exposed real operational limits. Overwhelmed by dozens of simultaneous requests, Vendo lost track of several orders, made notes that items had been procured when they hadn\u2019t, and then panic-ordered everything the night before the conference. It arrived in time. Barely.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it has a singular task, it\u2019s really good,\u201d Petersson acknowledged. \u201cBut as soon as you ask a hundred things in parallel, then it gets a bit overwhelmed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shadow copy strategy<\/p>\n

For large enterprises watching from the sidelines, Petersson offered a concrete and provocative recommendation: build a shadow copy of your company and let an AI run it in parallel.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust try,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat would happen if we take an AI and just let it run our company side by side and say, where\u2019s the failing? And how far away are we from being completely replaced? That would be probably pretty useful.\u201d<\/p>\n

He offered a rough timeline: zero years away for a vending machine operation, two years for something like Walmart, five years for health care. The variables are regulatory complexity and physical unpredictability, not intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe AIs will be smarter than humans very soon,\u201d he said, \u201cwithin, I would say, like, two or three years.\u201d He added that he thinks it would be great to have a \u201cmeter\u201d to measure how far we are from that inflection point. \u201cThis is, like, in a vending machine company, this is zero years. In, like, a Walmart or something, this is maybe two years. And in health care, this is maybe five years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trajectory from a vending machine in Anthropic\u2019s office to an AI-managed Swedish caf\u00e9 with real employees, passed labor inspections, and a mechanical CEO: 12 months. \u201cJust imagine what they can do next year,\u201d Petersson said.<\/p>\n

For this story,\u00a0Fortune\u00a0journalists used generative AI as a research tool. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.<\/p>\n

#Anthropics #office #launched #AIrun #vending #machine #AIrun #stores #cafes #year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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