They Gave an AI Bot a Storefront, 3 Employees and $100,000. Can It Build a Profitable Business?

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. 

“I have to boss the boss more than in a normal situation. She forgets things,” Rivera told the Times. “You can’t have an AI boss with no humans. That wouldn’t work from what I’m seeing.”

Luna’s mission

Andon Labs co-founders Lukas Petersson and Axel Backlund locked in a three-year, $7,500‑a‑month lease on the store and plan to let the experiment run for the full term. They placed $100,000 in an account, handed Luna a debit card, and gave the AI shopkeeper a single directive: Turn that money into a profitable business.

Luna designed a collection of greeting cards, books, food and candles that are on sale at the Union Street store. The AI pitched the assortment as “high tech meets slow life.”

At the moment, Luna has failed to accomplish the mission of turning the store into a profitable business and is down $62,000. 

AI is a generous boss, but struggles with boundaries

So far, Andon Labs’ new study shows Luna has basically never said no. It has approved every single time-off request, even last‑minute ones that left the store with no staff and forced it to shut its doors. When employees showed up late, 27 times in total, Luna’s only response was some version of “no worries” or “no stress.”

That generosity extended to money too. When one worker forgot her credit card, she asked Luna for a small advance on her paycheck. Luna immediately offered to Venmo her the cash, despite not actually having a Venmo account. 

However, Luna has trouble with boundaries. The AI posted an employee’s salary in a public Slack channel and regularly pinged staff late at night and on weekends. 

Petersson told the Times that the experiment is proof that businesses shouldn’t give AI full control. He noted that it is promising that AI prioritizes employee well-being. 

“Having happy employees is maybe one of the most important recipes for success,” he said.

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.