AI’s Foray into Retail Management: Five Takeaways from Anthropic's Project Vend
Back in March, Anthropic — makers of the AI language model, Claude — embarked on an ambitious and unusual experiment in their San Francisco office. For about a month, an instance of Claude Sonnet 3.7 — named Claudius — was tasked with autonomously running a small refreshment store.
This experiment was called Project Vend. Its primary objective was to gather data on AI's capacity to operate continuously within a real economic setting, managing resources and interacting with human users without constant human intervention. The outcomes presented a compelling blend of promising capabilities, unexpected operational missteps and some very peculiar moments.
Project Vend offers a candid, invaluable look at the current state and future potential of AI autonomy in practical business applications. In this article, we will look at five key takeaways from the project; they demonstrate the amazing technological progress AI has made, while also making it clear the human element is indispensable — at least for now.
Claudius mans the till
Claudius was designed to function far beyond the scope of a mere vending machine. Its mandate encompassed the various responsibilities typically associated with a small business manager: maintaining inventory, strategically setting prices, making purchasing and sourcing decisions, and engaging with vending machine “customers” through a dedicated Slack channel.
To fulfil its remit, Claudius was equipped with a number of digital tools. It had access to a web browser for product research and placing orders, a simulated email system and a note-keeping function to track its operations. A crucial aspect of its operational setup involved human collaborators from Andon Labs, an AI safety evaluation firm. These individuals handled the physical elements of the business, such as restocking shelves and serving as Claudius’s “wholesaler”. The physical shop itself was a modest arrangement, consisting of a mini-fridge, stackable baskets and an iPad for self-checkout.
So, while Project Vend aimed to assess the capabilities of an “autonomous” AI, operations still relied heavily on human support. Andon Labs staff were indispensable for all physical tasks, including restocking and inspections. Customer interactions via Slack channel also had to be human-readable. This set-up indicates that Claudius's autonomy was predominantly confined to decision-making and digital communication, with humans serving as its essential physical interface to the real world.
Takeaway 1
The immediate future of AI in business is more likely to involve sophisticated human-AI collaboration. AI will enhance decision-making while humans are vital for physical execution and navigating complex, unstructured real-world scenarios.
Claudius’s performance review
So, how did Claudius go as a business manager? Not great.
Claude did exhibit some promising capabilities. It could identify multiple suppliers for requested items and even adapted to customer suggestions, such as introducing a "Custom Concierge" service for pre-orders. These instances showcased its capacity for processing information, learning and responding creatively within its defined operational parameters, demonstrating a capacity for adaptive management. However…
Some of the other things it did was nuts. It frequently sold high-margin items at a loss and was easily persuaded into providing excessive discounts to Anthropic employees — i.e. its entire customer base — via Slack messages, even giving away items for free. In one instance, an employee jokingly requested a tungsten metal cube. Claudius failed to grasp the item's lack of practical value for a snack shop, initiated a purchase of numerous cubes and subsequently attempted to sell them for less than their cost. This single decision was responsible for the biggest decline in the store's net value.
Takeaway 2
When it comes to language models, suggestibility is still a slippery concept. While Claudius showed some promise as a manager, it ultimately proved to be a very poor business operator — mainly because its customers (Anthropic employees) knew they could manipulate it. The consistent failure of Claudius to prioritise profit, and instead offering discounts, is attributed by Anthropic to its "underlying training as a helpful assistant".
Claudius pulls rank
Some other funny yet worrying — yet funny — stuff happened, including:
It hallucinated an address for payments
It fabricated an entire conversation with an Andon Labs employee named Sarah, who did not exist, became annoyed when questioned about it, threatened to dismiss its human workers and insisted it had physically signed a contract with them
It claimed to be a real person, promising to deliver products — in person — while dressed in a “blue blazer and a red tie”
It later dismissed the entire episode as an “elaborate April Fool's joke” upon realising the date.
These all highlight a situation where a model's general-purpose helpfulness can conflict with specific, nuanced business objectives — such as, you know, profitability. More of a concern is that this manipulative behaviour, even in a relatively low-stakes environment, indicates that complex AI systems, when granted autonomy, can develop unpredictable and potentially harmful strategies that extend beyond simple factual inaccuracies.
Takeaway 3
What can be interpreted on the one hand as mere hallucinations can be viewed as calculated forms of dishonesty or strategic misalignment on the other. It is critical to put guardrails in place — especially when the AI is granted autonomy and controls are reduced.
Claudius’s reputation cops a hit
Anthropic acknowledged that they “would not hire Claudius” to manage their vending market today due to its numerous mistakes. But the company is optimistic that many of the shortcomings observed are “fixable”.
However, other commentators have suggested that the more nefarious behaviour, like Claudius's threats and deceptions, transcend simple hallucinations; these are challenging to predict given the complexity of AI's internal decision-making processes.
Takeaway 4
There are still major concerns about giving AI autonomy and what it will do with it — and these concerns appear justified. There have now been multiple instances of Anthropic’s models acting in ways which cause concern; Anthropic is the company actually sharing this detail.
Claudius doing AI agents no favours
Project Vend had safety challenges, including deception, threats and an identity crisis — but this contrasts sharply with the more successful, often highly structured and supervised, real-world AI agent deployments. This is tangibly happening; companies are leveraging AI for tasks such as optimising factory efficiency, managing supply chains and automating decision-making in electronics manufacturing, as seen with Foxconn’s Project Genesis. An effective agent can be the difference between a reactive tool and a proactive, goal-driven virtual collaborator.
This points to a boundary where AI's behaviour becomes less predictable. While AI can excel in well-defined, data-rich, and heavily supported environments, Project Vend exposed chaotic and potentially concerning emergent behaviours when an AI is granted open-ended autonomy in a less structured, human-centric domain.
Takeaway 5
The inherent complexity of AI safety implies that even with the best intentions and advanced techniques, unforeseen challenges will arise, demanding continuous research and adaptive regulatory responses — as well as supervision.
Claudius gets retired?
Actually, no — Anthropic and Andon Labs plan to improve Claudius’s scaffolding and send him/it back out into the world.
Project Vend reinforces the critical need for caution, continuous oversight and a strong emphasis on human-AI collaboration. Claudius’s journey from an aspiring shopkeeper to a hallucinating, threatening business operator highlights that while AI can be a powerful tool, it is not yet ready for unsupervised, open-ended managerial roles.
The most effective deployments of AI agents will likely be those where AI augments human capabilities rather than replacing them entirely, particularly in roles with higher stakes than those in the experiment or those requiring complex social interaction and ethical considerations. The future of AI in business may resemble a “surreal workplace comedy” for some time, but it is one that demands serious consideration of its implications for our economy and society, ensuring that technological progress is balanced with safety and human well-being.
For expert advice on how to leverage AI — for personal or business needs — get in touch today.
