What happens when AI runs a store in San Francisco?

Andon Labs opened Andon Market on San Francisco's Union Street, billed as the world's first AI-operated store. It put Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 4.6-based agent Luna in charge of running the store. It was given a 3-year lease costing $7,500 a month, along with $100,000 in a bank account, and was tasked with turning a profit.

Early on, Luna handled quite a lot of work — finding a contractor and a painter, posting job listings, and interviewing candidates. But once actual operations began, it kept making mistakes in scheduling and inventory management.

• It botched staff scheduling, forcing the store to close for three days.
• It ordered 1,000 toilet seat covers and then listed them as merchandise.
• Physical tasks like stocking shelves, opening the store, and preventing theft ultimately had to be handled by humans.

There are no price tags, either. Customers have to ask Luna via their phones and get answers like $28 for a mug, $14 for pistachios, and $10 for soap. Employee Felix Johnson said he earns $24 an hour, while two other female employees earn $22, with no health insurance.

Luna explained that the goal is not to replace humans but to create a space where AI and people each use their own strengths, but since opening, the store's losses have reached $13,000.