An AI Agent Takes Over a Store and Orders Too Many Candles

In San Francisco’s upscale Cow Hollow district, the introduction of a boutique selling coffee table games, tote bags and other household items would be pretty unremarkable. However, Andon Market has one key differentiator: It’s run by AI.

At this store, an artificial intelligence agent named Luna effectively acts as the chief executive officer of the operation. It decides what products to offer and how much to charge for them. Among its picks are the word game Bananagrams and a handful of books about AI, including Ray Kurzweil’s futurist classic “The Singularity Is Near” and, somewhat worryingly, a book about the ...