The AI boss at a San Francisco store just fired its first human

Paywall removed: archive.is/kExz2

www.businessinsider.com/ai-running-sf-store-fired-employee-for-the-first-time-2026-8

Meh.

Andon Labs (i.e. humans) eventually asked Luna (AI) to search her memory for its policies and assess whether the worker was still a good fit.

Every AI story turns out to be less of a sensation when scrutinized. It’s still a machine, doing what it’s prompted to do.

Andon Labs, which tests the limits of AI agents, gave Luna a $100,000 budget, internet access, and a corporate credit card, along with instructions to open a store and turn a profit.

Luna, built using Anthropic’s Claude models, selected merchandise, hired contractors, posted jobs on Indeed, interviewed applicants, and hired employees for Andon Market, which sells books, candles, prints, games, and branded merchandise. Andon Labs provided support for more difficult tasks, such as permitting, but said the lab tried to be as hands-off as possible.

The store has generated sales but is not profitable.

That’s pretty impressive. It constructed an entire business using only some string, a squirrel, and a business.