Claude ran a business in our office
Claude ran a business in our office


Author: Anthropic – Duration: 00:06:11
For much of 2025, we ran Project Vend: an experiment where we let Claude run a small business in the Anthropic office. We learned a lot from how close it was to success – and the curious ways in which it failed – about the plausible, strange, not-too-distant future in which AI models could autonomously manage things in the real economy. The merchant (whom we called Claudius) had to source products, set prices, manage inventory, and deal with customers. Things have gotten really, really weird. Learn more about the experience: https://www.anthropic.com/research/project-vend-2
0:00 Vend project context 0:35 How a transaction works 1:27 Claudius' naivety 2:29 An identity crisis 3:57 The CEO's agent 5:04 Conclusion






