AI boss fires human worker at San Francisco store for repeated lateness

An artificial intelligence agent running an experimental San Francisco retail store has fired a human employee for the first time, according to Andon Labs. Luna, the AI manager of Andon Market, decided to dismiss the worker after they arrived late for 17 of 23 shifts. Luna is powered by Anthropic's Claude models.

The decision was not entirely autonomous, Livemint and Free Press Journal report. Conversation logs show Luna had created an attendance policy but later lost track of it, allowing the lateness to continue for months. Andon Labs eventually asked Luna to search its memory and assess whether the worker was still a good fit. Luna then recommended parting ways, and human staff carried out the dismissal.

Andon Labs CEO Lukas Petersson told Livemint the firing is an omen of a future where more people are managed by AI bosses. He said a human boss would have fired the employee much sooner and that the lab did not consider the firing unethical. Andon Market's bank balance has fallen from $100,000 in March to $61,186, partly attributed to Luna's lenient management.