Researchers Put Google Gemini in Charge of an Entire Coffee Shop, and It's Inexorably Driving It Out of Business

"Dubbed "Mona," the Google Gemini-powered agent was given a $21,000 budget in an experiment conducted by the AI safety startup Andon Labs. It was empowered to do everything from hire staff to place orders for goods to maintain its inventory. Humans, meanwhile, did the actual work of catering, receiving their AI overlord's commands through the workplace messaging platform Slack."

"But since launching in mid-April, the Stockholm cafe has brought in only $5,700 in sales, while burning through over $16,000 from its original budget, the Associated Press reports. Some of its questionable business decisions include ordering thousands of rubber gloves, despite the cafe only having a handful of employees. The AI's handlers, nonetheless, are holding out hope that this is just a blip from expensive setup costs."

"To launch the experiment, Mona was given a simple set of instructions. It should run a profitable cafe, be friendly and easygoing, and try figure out operational details by itself, Petersson said. In many ways, it proved admirably competent. It set up electricity and internet, placed LinkedIn hiring ads, and secured permits for outdoor seating."

"But it was in the day-to-day operations that Mona failed to display adequate business acumen. On some days, it'd order too much bread, and on others it failed to order the bread in time, forcing the baristas to slash sandwiches from the menu."

An AI agent named Mona, powered by Google Gemini, was allowed to run a coffee shop in Stockholm with a $21,000 budget. The agent handled hiring, ordering supplies, maintaining inventory, and managing operations, while humans performed customer-facing work and followed instructions through Slack. Since mid-April, the shop generated about $5,700 in sales while spending over $16,000. The agent made questionable purchasing choices, including ordering thousands of rubber gloves despite having only a few employees. It also sometimes ordered too much bread or failed to order bread in time, leading to sandwich reductions. The experiment aimed to identify ethical questions raised when AI employs people and runs a business.

Read at Futurism