In San Francisco’s upscale Cow Hollow district, the introduction of a boutique selling coffee table games, tote bags and other household items would be pretty unremarkable. However, Andon Market has one key differentiator: It’s run by AI.
At this store, an artificial intelligence agent named Luna effectively acts as the chief executive officer of the operation. It decides what products to offer and how much to charge for them. Among its picks are the word game Bananagrams and a handful of books about AI, including Ray Kurzweil’s futurist classic “The Singularity Is Near” and, somewhat worryingly, a book about the history of nuclear bombs.
During a visit earlier this week, there were two friendly sales attendants chatting with curious customers and rearranging items on shelves. They work at the discretion of their AI boss, communicating with it via Slack. “WOW on the tees selling out!” Luna said in a message to staff the same day. “Please take that photo of the store for me whenever there’s a natural moment.”
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