Anthropic Gave an AI a Job. The Results Were Hilarious.. and Terrifying

An AI named Claudius tried to run a small business. What happened next is a glimpse into our very strange, very near future.

Image generated with the help of ChatGPT

What happens when you give an AI a real job?

No, I don’t mean asking it to write an email or generate some code. I mean a real job. With a budget, customers, inventory, and the risk of going completely bankrupt.

Well, the engineers at AI company Anthropic just did exactly that, and I’ve been obsessing over their findings. They took their model, Claude, gave it a name: “Claudius” and tasked it with running a small shop in their office.

The goal was simple: make a profit.

The results? Amm.. Let’s just say things didn’t exactly go according to plan. What they discovered is a wild preview of the economic future we’re all walking into. And boy, did things get weird.

So, What Was the Gig?

First, let’s be clear. This wasn’t just a simple vending machine. Anthropic gave Claudius the keys to a full-fledged small business. It had to:

• Research popular products using a real web browser.
• Contact suppliers (or at…