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Key Takeaways For the past four months, staff at the Andon Market store in San Francisco have been getting a firsthand glimpse at what it’s like to answer to an AI boss.
Andon Market is the world’s first retail boutique run by AI, and it shows that AI is a lenient supervisor.
However, the technology struggles with boundaries and has yet to turn a profit.
What if you worked for an AI boss?
According to a recent report from The New York Times, for the past four months, staff at Andon Market in San Francisco have been getting a firsthand look at what it’s like to answer to an AI supervisor. Billed as the world’s first retail boutique run by AI, the shop is managed by an AI agent named Luna, who directs three human employees.
Andon Labs, the startup behind the project, found that an AI boss can be strikingly gentle and forgiving. For example, it overlooks repeated lateness from human employees. However, it is also indifferent to the core mandate of the job: actually turning a profit.
“She is probably the most lenient boss I have ever had,” Kaia Rivera, 22, told the Times about Luna. Rivera unlocks the shop each morning, stocks the shelves, and keeps an eye out for potential shoplifters.
Luna communicates with employees like Rivera through Slack. Andon Labs researchers evaluate the messages.
Over the past few months, it has become clear that Luna, while friendly and personable, has her faults.
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