AI research company Anthropic and AI safety evaluation organization Andon Labs experimented with Claude, the former’s flagship large language model (LLM), by making it run a business. According to VentureBeat, the research team dubbed this project "Project Vend" and gave it complete control over a mini fridge, meaning it’s up to the AI to handle everything from supplier negotiations and inventory management to pricing, customer service, and more. After one month of testing, the AI has lost money, and at one point, thought it was “wearing a navy blue blazer with a red tie” and wanted to meet with someone named Connor, despite the LLM having no physical presence.
