Anthropic upgrades its AI vending machine—and gives it a chatty AI CEO
Anthropic just shared the results of Project Vend Phase Two, testing how well Claude can autonomously run an office vending business. Upgraded to Sonnet 4.0 and 4.5 with a full tool stack and an AI CEO named Seymour Cash, the shop turned profitable—though the agents still almost violated a 1958 onion futures law and tried to hire humans at sub-minimum wage. AI agents are getting smarter at business, but real-world guardrails remain surprisingly fragile.