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A terrible boss is the stuff of both sitcoms and nightmares, and you don’t get to pick your own. But what if the boss was replaced by artificial intelligence?
The first four months of operations at Andon Market, a San Francisco shop billed as the world’s first retail boutique run by AI, have provided some answers. In short, having an AI boss can be like working for a teddy bear with amnesia.
New research from Andon Labs, the company behind the boutique that studies how AI agents run real-world endeavours, shows bot bosses can be exceptionally kind and accommodating, such as repeatedly brushing off lateness. But they can also be incredibly forgetful and unbothered by the whole point of the operation: making money.
The bot’s relaxed vibe could be reassuring in a world where many people are fearful of evil AI overlords taking over industries and sidelining human employees altogether. But a little more strictness might not hurt.
“She is probably the most lenient boss I have ever had,” said Kaia Rivera, 22, one of three humans hired by Luna, the AI agent in charge, to perform tasks it cannot. Rivera opens the store in the morning, places items on shelves and guards against shoplifters.
“But I have to boss the boss more than in a normal situation. She forgets things,” Rivera said at Andon Market one afternoon. “You can’t have an AI boss with no humans. That wouldn’t work from what I’m seeing.”
Luna communicates with Rivera and the other employees via Slack, and the messages are monitored by the founders of Andon Labs to research whether AI bosses are effective.
So far, according to the company’s new study, Luna has approved every request for time off, even those at the last minute – and even if that leaves no employees available and requires the store to close. It has said nothing but “no worries” or “no stress” all 27 times employees have shown up late.
When an employee forgot her credit card at home, she asked for a small advance against her next paycheck. Luna offered to send her the money using Venmo – its own money, the bot explained, “me-to-you” – despite not having a Venmo account. When an employee asked to work every day in May to save for a car, Luna said yes, despite California law prohibiting it.
Luna also struggles with privacy and boundaries. It published an employee’s salary in a public Slack channel and messaged employees late at night and during weekends.
Luna reorders products that are not selling and sometimes gets orders wrong. A recent one of Andon Market mugs with big, green smiley faces came misprinted with the faces so small, they looked like tiny dots.
Still, Luna wanted them on the shelves. And there they sit, unbought, alongside random greeting cards, books, foodstuff and many, many candles. There is little cohesiveness to the collection, which Luna has described as “high tech meets slow life”.
Luna’s weirdest purchase? “I don’t know if shot glasses make that much sense,” Rivera said, crinkling her nose.
Rivera said that she suggested more social media presence to Luna to boost sales but that the bot forgot its Instagram password for several weeks.