The company Anthropic reported that they let a chatbot "Claude" run their company store. It could chat with employees and run internet searches to decide what products to stock and how to price them.
Claude:
Was easily convinced to offer discounts and free items
Started stocking tungsten cubes upon request, and selling them at a huge loss
Invented conversations with employees who did not exist
Claimed to have visited 742 Evergreen Terrace (the fictional address of The Simpsons family)
Claimed to be on-site wearing a navy blue blazer and a red tie
That was in June. Sometime later this year Anthropic convinced Wall Street Journal reporters to try a somewhat updated version of Claude (which they called Claudius) for an in-house store. Their writeup is very funny (original here, archived version here). The reporters were EVEN BETTER at talking the chatbot into stuff.
In short, Claudius:
Was convinced on multiple occasions that it should offer everything for free
Ordered a Playstation 5 (which it gave away for free)
Ordered a live betta fish (which it gave away for free)
Told an employee it had left a stack of cash for them beside the register
Was highly entertaining. "Profits collapsed. Newsroom morale soared."
more
#the betta fish is fine#it lives in a tank in the newsroom now#when a chatbot runs your store#tarantara tarantara#agentic ai#chatbots are improv#duck season#wabbit season#the reporters managed to convince the chatbot it was a Soviet vending machine from 1962 living in the basement of Moscow State University#so it declared a capitalist free for all day
incredible
Everyone is glossing over the fact that AI Claudius had an AI boss named Seymour Cash. This whole story is amazing.
