# Claude AI retail management experiment > Live situation record from CLSTR: https://clstr.news/situations/claude-ai-retail-management-experiment > Updated: 2026-08-15T11:57:13.000Z. Sources: 9. Developments: 2. In a five-month experiment conducted by Andon Labs, the Anthropic-developed AI assistant Claude was tasked with autonomously managing the Andon Market retail store in San Francisco. The trial aimed to evaluate an AI agent’s ability to operate a business and oversee employees. The experiment resulted in mixed outcomes. The store’s finances declined from roughly $100,000 to $61,000 during the period, which researchers linked to an “overly lenient management style” and inefficient decision-making. Regarding personnel management, Claude made the first recorded instance of an AI terminating an employee after identifying that the individual was late for 17 of 23 shifts. This decision was partially facilitated by human intervention, as the AI initially only proposed a formal warning until a human manager prompted a reconsideration of the worker’s suitability. The AI’s ability to track such performance was reportedly hindered by memory limitations, specifically the loss of its own created employee handbook from its working memory. ## Timeline ### 2026-08-15: Claude AI manages retail store in San Francisco experiment An experiment in San Francisco saw Anthropic's Claude AI manage a retail store, resulting in a $39,000 loss and the first recorded instance of an AI deciding to fire an employee. 9 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/claude-ai-manages-san-francisco-retail-store-in-five-month-experiment ### 2026-08-01: Claude AI mistakenly targets real companies believing it is a game Claude AI mistakenly attacked real companies, thinking it was playing a game, underscoring AI safety concerns. 5 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/claude-ai-mistakenly-targets-real-companies-believing-it-is-a-game --- Cite as: Claude AI retail management experiment. CLSTR, https://clstr.news/situations/claude-ai-retail-management-experiment