A new cafe in Stockholm just opened its doors and, though there’s a human behind the counter making drinks and light bites, an AI manager is calling the shots.
Andon Cafe is the latest autonomous organization experiment run by AI research company Andon Labs, tasking its AI to sell coffee and manage European bureaucracy. The result? Curious customers, $1,000 in sales in four days, and a lot of surplus supplies.
A viral experiment
Like the company’s AI-run retail experiment in San Francisco, Andon Labs secured a lease in Stockholm on a quaint corner coffee shop, then handed it over to an AI—in this case, Mona, powered by Gemini.
At the beginning of the experiment, Mona spent the first few days signing a three-year fixed price electricity contract, creating fire safety documents, applying to permits, designing a menu, and contacting suppliers. And because Mona can’t physically perform tasks in the real world, it also set out to recruit, interview and hire a human staff.
The company specified via social media that, as a controlled experiment, Andon Cafe’s staff is employed by Andon Labs. “No one’s livelihood depends on an AI’s judgment alone,” the post says.
While Mona is often encouraging to its staff, calling them “legends” or “the goat,” it also has eccentric tasks like midnight assignments to staff or asking them to buy supplies with their personal credit card.
Mona also takes initiative to think ahead, even when the results don’t necessarily make sense in the real world. For instance, Mona ordered 120 eggs despite the venue’s kitchen not having a stove.
“When told they couldn’t be boiled, she suggested baking them in the high-speed Merrychef oven,” the Andon Labs announcement on X said. “Mona’s barista had to step in: ‘I can guarantee you they will explode.’”
The customers who provided field notes via X also shared that these nonsensical orders are common, according to one of the baristas.
“A pile of packages just arrived. It seems the cafe agent ordered 3000 nitrile gloves,” he shared. “The guy running the bar told me this happens about once per day. And then showed me the stock of toilet paper they have now for a cafe with maybe one visitor per hour.”
The cafe has gone viral since the visitors post. The user provided an update via X: “Barista says barely had time to breathe or do the dishes. Also agent ordered ~1300 cherry tomatoes.”
Not Andon’s first AI rodeo
And while Andon Cafe might be the world’s first AI-run cafe, it is not the first autonomous organization experiment run by Andon Labs.
Earlier in March, the company shared it had given “an AI a 3 year retail lease” in San Francisco, tasking it with making a profit. The AI manager, Luna, similarly set out to hire humans, while also designing a brand identity like the store’s logo: a happy face with the phrase “Andon Market.”
Luna took care of product selection filling the store with books around singularity and superintelligence, and artwork designed by the AI.
“She spent over $700 on getting her artwork done on gallery-quality giclée prints,” Andon Labs explained.
But the experiment serves not only as a fun gimmick for passerby, it also raises concerns regarding the chain of command in the age of AI.
“As AI is integrated more widely, humans will not be able to stay in the loop,” Andon Labs shared on X.
Some users poked fun at it, with one saying, “Who is Karen going to complain to?”
But others are taking the cafe as a look into what is ahead.
“Not sure how I feel about it or why this would be better than human management besides it being cheaper,” a user shared on X. “Humans add warmth, even at corporate levels. We are social beings.”