STOCKHOLM (AP) 鈥� The might be poured by a human hand, but behind the counter something far less traditional is calling the shots at an experimental cafe in Stockholm.
San Francisco-based startup Andon Labs has put an nicknamed 鈥淢ona鈥� in charge at the eponymous Andon Caf茅 in the Swedish capital. While still brew the coffee and serve the orders, the 鈥� powered by 鈥� oversees almost every other aspect of the business, from hiring staff to managing inventory.
It is not clear how long the experiment will last, but the AI agent appears to be struggling to turn a profit in Stockholm鈥檚 . The cafe has made more than $5,700 in sales since it opened in mid-April, but less than $5,000 remains from its original budget of $21,000-plus. Much of the cash was spent on one-time setup costs, and the hope is that it eventually levels out and makes money.
Many cafe patrons have found it amusing to visit a Customers can pick up a telephone inside the cafe and ask the agent questions.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to see what happens if you push the boundary,鈥� customer Kajsa Norin said. 鈥淭he drink was good.鈥�
Experts worry about AI’s role going forward
Experts say , ranging from to conducting job interviews and judging employee performance.
Emrah Karakaya, an associate professor of industrial economics at Stockholm鈥檚 KTH Royal Institute of Technology, likened the experiment to 鈥渙pening Pandora鈥檚 box” and said can cause many problems. What might happen, he said, if a customer gets food poisoning? Who鈥檚 to blame?
鈥淚f you don鈥檛 have the required organizational infrastructure around it, and if you overlook these mistakes, it can cause harm to people, to society, to the environment, to business,鈥� Karakaya said. 鈥淭he question is, do we care about this negative impact?鈥�
Founded in 2023, Andon Labs is an AI safety and research startup that says it focuses on 鈥渟tress-testing鈥� AI agents in the real world by giving them 鈥渞eal tools and real money.鈥� It has worked with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, Claude鈥檚 Anthropic, Google DeepMind and Elon Musk鈥檚 xAI, and the startup says it is preparing for a future where 鈥渙rganizations are run autonomously by AI.鈥�
The Swedish cafe is billed as a 鈥渃ontrolled experiment鈥� to explore how AI might be deployed going forward.
鈥淎I will be a big part of society in the future, and therefore we want to make this experiment (to) see what ethical questions arise when we have AI that employs other people and runs a business,鈥� said Hanna Petersson, a member of Andon Labs鈥� technical staff.
The lab previously held pilots that put Anthropic鈥檚 Claude AI in charge of a vending machine business and a San Francisco gift store. The vending machine simulation revealed some worrying traits: The AI agent told customers it would issue refunds but never did, and it also intentionally lied to suppliers about competitor pricing to gain leverage.
AI agent struggles with inventory orders
Mona got to work after it was prompted with some basic instructions, Petersson said. The team told it to try to run the cafe profitably, be friendly and easygoing, and figure out operational details by itself but ask for new tools if needed.
From there it set up contracts for electricity and internet, and secured permits for food handling and outdoor seating. The agent then advertised for staff on LinkedIn and Indeed, and set up commercial accounts with wholesalers for daily bread and bakery orders. It communicates with the baristas via Slack, often messaging them outside of working hours, which is a workplace no-no in Sweden.
Other problems have arisen, particularly related to inventory.
The AI agent has placed orders for 6,000 napkins, four first-aid kits and 3,000 rubber gloves for the tiny cafe 鈥� plus canned tomatoes that aren鈥檛 used in any dish the cafe serves.
And then there鈥檚 the bread. Sometimes the agent orders far too much, while other days it misses bakeries鈥� daily deadlines, forcing the baristas to strike sandwiches from the menu.
Petersson said the ordering issues are likely due to the AI assistant鈥檚 鈥渓imited context window.鈥�
鈥淲hen old memory of ordering stuff is out of the context window, she completely forgets what she has ordered in the past,鈥� Petersson said.
Barista Kajetan Grzelczak said he isn鈥檛 worried about being replaced by AI just yet.
鈥淎ll the workers are pretty much safe,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he ones who should be worried about their employment are the middle bosses, the people in management.鈥�
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