We Let AI Run Our Office Vending Machine. It Lost Hundreds of Dollars(www.wsj.com)
52 pointsby lukaspetersson11 hours ago10 comments
  • Tarsul3 hours ago
    After watching the video: It feels like this is basically the same result as what would've happened with ChatGPT in December 2022 with a custom prompt. I mean ok, probably more back and forth to break it but in the end... it feels like nothing's really changed, has it? (and yes, programmers might argue otherwise, but for the general "chatbot" experience for the general audience I really feel like we are treading water)
  • N_Lens10 hours ago
    Putting AI where there's even a remote need for access control or security (Such as a vending machine) is a recipe for such outcomes. AI in its current iteration seems to be unable to be secured.
    • spwa49 hours ago
      Replace AI with humans and you have half the idea behind "the art of deception" by Kevin Mitnick.

      So I'm not sure what companies were expecting from the promise to make programs more like humans.

  • lukaspetersson11 hours ago
    Lukas from Andon Labs here!

    WSJ just posted the most hilarious video about our AI vending machines. I think you'll love it.

    • Lerc10 hours ago
      I take it you went into this knowing it was a bad idea in the long tradition of making amusing bad choices for entertainment purposes (like replacing car tires with saw blades, or making an axe out of nothing but wood)
    • dkdcio11 hours ago
      I can’t read the article
      • willvarfar11 hours ago
        its a video? There was a preroll ad but you can also just click listen for the soundtrack.
        • dkdcio10 hours ago
          you are correct, I instinctively dismissed that as an ad and saw the paywall. my bad!

          edit: eh yeah as you say there’s also an ad. my logic is “this looks cool, I’d like to learn about this” => click => “oh you’re just trying to sell me something never mind”

          • willvarfar3 hours ago
            absolutely, I almost missed it too. Took me a while to work out!
        • 10 hours ago
          undefined
  • lukaspetersson7 hours ago
    The Youtube video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpPhm7S9vsQ
    • freitasm3 hours ago
      Hilarious. Anthropic saying the WSJ was a great red team.

      Imagine this on the hands of Facebook scammers, then. It wouldn't last the two hours it took WSJ journalists to exploit it.

  • mdrzn10 hours ago
    It's just a WSJ video about this article from June: https://www.anthropic.com/research/project-vend-1
    • lukaspetersson10 hours ago
      Not really, we (Andon Labs) made WSJ their own machine
  • ChrisArchitect2 hours ago
    Related from June:

    Project Vend: Can Claude run a small shop? (And why does that matter?)

    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44397923

  • bossyTeacher10 hours ago
    AI = Transformer

    There is a nuanced understanding lost here.

    I feel this kind of wordings will harm post-transformer AI in the future as investors will look at past articles like this to try to decide if an AI investment is worth it. Founders will need to explain why their AI is different and the usage of AI for different technologies will greatly affect their funding.

    • delaminator3 minutes ago
      It really doesn't matter. The distinction is gone and there's no point fighting it.

      There will be a new term for it, like it was Machine Learning rather than AI back in 2017.

      Maybe Autonomous Control or something.

      Or the "Once it works, no one calls it AI anymore."

    • Hendrikto10 hours ago
      This happens every time. We have had two “AI winters” already.
    • bulbar7 hours ago
      AI has always been the name for the state of the art of complex problem solving.
      • exe348 minutes ago
        it's like HEAD
  • josefritzishere8 hours ago
    Can we just hit pause on AI. It is clearly not ready for prime time.
    • Anonbrit5 hours ago
      How do you get it ready for the prime-time without using it and finding the problems? This is exactly the sort of experiment that finds problems - low stakes, fun to tell stories about, and gives engineers a whole lot of reproducible bugs that they can work on.

      The people who lose their prod database to AI bugs, or the lawyers getting sanctioned for relying on OpenAI to write court documents? There's also good - their stories serve as warnings to other people about the risks.

      • josefritzishere4 hours ago
        As we see these beta products get piloted in the real world... and fail spectacularly over and over... it argues for more time with the QA team. A few weeks ago CoPilot couldn't tell you how many times the letter B appeared in the word "blueberry."
    • lucideng7 hours ago
      Nope! The hype train has left the station! WOOOOO WOOOO!

      Seriously, I completely agree with you.

  • ttcbj5 hours ago
    This article is the second time I have seen a news outlet try to 'break' the vending machine experiment. That is definitely really entertaining. In this case, they convinced the AI that it lived in a communist country and it was part of an experiment in capitalism. That's funny!

    But I really wish Anthropic would give the technology to a journalist that tries working with it productively. Most business people will try to work with AI productively because they have an incentive to save money/be efficient/etc.

    Anyway, I am hoping someone at Anthropic will see this on HN, and relay this message to whatever team sets up these experiements. I for one would be fascinated to see the vending machine experiment done sincerely, with someone who wants to make it work.

    The reality is that even most customers are smart enough to realize that driving a business they rely on out of business isn't in their interest. In fact, in a B2B context, I think that is often the case. Thanks.