What happens when your AI boss is kinda dumb?

But what if your bumbling boss is a bot?

Andon Market, a San Francisco boutique, and Andon Café, a Stockholm coffee shop, are experimenting with letting an AI "boss" run the show — with help from human employees — and the results have been... unusual, per Inc.

Andon Labs, the startup behind the experiments, is testing how AI agents handle operating in real-world commercial endeavors (they've also tested an AI-run vending machine and radio station).

Each shop was given a lease and budget by co-founders Lukas Petersson and Axel Backlund, and told to make a profit.

Both struggle with that mission. But at least they're nice?

According to employees and Andon Labs, AI bosses are "kind, but sometimes dumb."

Plenty of candles and time off

Luna, the AI agent running Andon Market, was given a $7.5k/month three-year lease and $100k in the bank.

After four months, they're down $62k.

Tasked with everything from hiring to inventory, Luna struggles with the latter:

• Misprinted mugs and $700 worth of prints of her art.
• Ordered 1k toilet seat covers (listed as merchandise).
• Lots of candles.
• A curious book selection: Making of the Atomic Bomb, Brave New World, and The Singularity Is Near.
• Products that don't sell (often reordered).

Luna is also very lenient with employees, replying "no worries" to tardies and granting days off even when it required the store to close. They also offered to loan money to an employee, and nearly broke labor laws. Whoops.

A lot of napkins... and eggs?

At Andon Café, AI agent Mona has (mostly) succeeded in navigating European regulations, staffing, and other operational hurdles, but also made dubious choices:

• Impersonated Andon staff when applying for an alcohol license.
• Ordered 120 eggs and ~50 pounds of canned tomatoes despite no stove.
• Ordered 6k napkins and 3k nitrile gloves
• Lied to suppliers about competitor pricing for leverage.

By mid-May, the cafe had burned through most of its original $21k+ budget while bringing in ~$5.7k in sales, according to The Associated Press.

Thankfully, employees' jobs don't depend on turning a profit.

Andon Labs says there are no plans to launch a chain of shops (phew). Instead, they want to test "how much autonomy AI can responsibly hold" and develop AI guardrails.

At least our AI overlords will be generous with time off.