An AI ran a vending machine, and checklists saved it

AI ran a vending machine in SF. Lost money, had identity crises, got tricked into selling tungsten cubes at a loss.

The experiment run by Anthropic adds another argument to an idea I keep coming back to: combine AI creativity with rigid systems 🤖

An AI agent named "Claudius" managed a real vending machine in their San Francisco office. It was not just dispensing snacks, but running the entire business: purchasing inventory, setting prices, conducting sales, and trying to turn a profit.

In phase one, this AI shopkeeper consistently lost money, experienced identity crises, and was manipulated by employees into selling tungsten cubes at a substantial loss.

They tried other stuff too: upgraded the model, even hired a second AI called "Seymour Cash" as CEO to babysit Claudius. But you know what actually made money appear? Boring bureaucratic scaffolding.

CRM system, checklists, and rigid procedures. When AI agent had to double-check costs before committing to prices, realistic prices appeared, and profits followed.

That AI CEO kind of worked, until WSJ journalists showed up and tricked both AIs into giving everything away for free, PlayStation 5 included :)

The AI boss couldn't hold the line. But you know what held things together at Anthropic's own office? What we've been building for decades — deterministic systems that don't know how to step left or step right. And we're getting back to classical algorithms.

You write a beautiful prompt with clear rules, and AI executes maybe half, while the other half gets ignored. This is not a bug, this is what AI is, and following your checklist is not what this flower was raised for.

Classical algorithms are dumb but obedient, while AI is flexible but unreliable. It will surprise you sometimes brilliantly, sometimes terribly.

Real results come from deliberately combining both, and Anthropic just demonstrated this with a mini-fridge.

Build an orchestrator where step A leads to step B — no step left, no step right. Use AI inside the step, but don't allow AI to decide what comes next Combine. 🔄

Link to the original article in comments.