VIDEOS|Conferences

We Let AI Run a Vending Machine for our Trip to Arizona—Here's What Happened

What happens when you hand an AI agent full control over a business—P&L, logistics, customer relations, and more? Andon Labs has built fully autonomous technology, powered by Claude, to run everything from restaurants and stores to radio stations. They’ve gained notoriety for their experiment inside Anthropic's own office, where an AI-run vending machine went hilariously off the rails. But beneath the chaos are real insights about AI autonomy and what happens when models operate in the real world without human oversight. Fortune decided to get in on the experiment, running our own vending machine for the COO Summit. Hear what happened, what we learned, and what Andon Labs’ cofounder believes is coming next for the humans—and the COOs—who will have to manage AI. Lukas Petersson, Co-founder, Andon Labs Moderator: Kristin Stoller, Editorial Director, Fortune; Co-Chair, Fortune COO Summit