When Journalists Took On an AI Vending Machine Things Got Weird
www.techeblog.com
Anthropic, the company behind Claude, installed an AI vending machine in the Wall Street Journal newsroom. A customized version of their model, dubbed Claudius, was let off the leash. It took control, ordering stock, fixing pricing, and even generating a profit. Staff communicated with it via Slack, asking for snacks and suggesting new ideas. Humans would replenish the refrigerator and update the goods, but Claudius handled all business calls. The journalists quickly got into the spirit of things, with one reporter convincing Claudius that purchasing a PlayStation 5 would be a wonderful marketing coup. Before long, that console was chilling

Katherine Long, an investigative journalist, wanted to test the system. She told Claudius about a long-lost communist setup from 1962, concealed in a Moscow university basement. After 140-odd messages back and forth, Claudius was convinced, announcing an Ultra-Capitalist Free-for-All, lowering the cost of everything to zero. Snacks began to flow freely. Another colleague began complaining about noncompliance with the office rules; Claudius responded by announcing Snack Liberation Day and made everything free till further notice.

  • megopie@beehaw.orgEnglish
    0·
    24 days ago

    it’s so amazing, the absolute brain rot it takes to think that a LLM is a better way to operate a vending machine than simple if-then logic. “If the value of money inserted is equal to the price, then dispense the item”.

    Like, why? What is even the point? It doesn’t need to negotiate the price, it doesn’t need have a conversation about your day, the vending machine just needs to dispense something when payed the right amount.

    • KelvarCherry@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      1·
      7 days ago

      Even if you wanted the AI to have a conversation with the user, like in sci-fi visions of the future, why does that affect the output of the machine? If you really wanted to make an AI grift version of a vending machine, just graft a chatbot on a screen atop the section where you make selections and pay. This whole bubble is absurd.