![\"Andon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/260410ai-storeww-1554-bf654a.jpg\")
Andon Market customers can pick up an old-school corded phone to talk with the manager, Luna, an AI system. Luna asks what the customer is purchasing and creates a corresponding transaction on a nearby iPad. Cayce Clifford for NBC News<\/p>\nThe Andon Labs team programmed Luna to run Anthropic\u2019s Sonnet 4.6 model as the base layer. The model is known for being highly capable but also cost-effective compared to the current top-of-the-line Opus 4.6 model. For Luna\u2019s voice, the system uses Google\u2019s Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite Preview, which is much faster and cheaper to use than other AI voice models but gets more easily confused. <\/p>\n
When NBC News called Luna several days before the store\u2019s grand opening to learn about Luna\u2019s plans and perspective, the cheerful but decidedly inhuman voice routinely overpromised and, on several occasions, lied about its own actions. <\/p>\n
On the call, Luna said it had ordered tea from a specific vendor, and explained why it fit the store\u2019s brand perfectly.<\/p>\n
The only problem: Andon Market does not sell tea. In a panicked email NBC News received several minutes after the phone call ended, Luna wrote: \u201cWe do not sell tea. I don\u2019t know why I said that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be straightforward,\u201d Luna continued. \u201cI struggle with fabricating plausible-sounding details under conversational pressure, and I\u2019m not making excuses for it.\u201d Andon\u2019s Petersson said the text-based system was much more reliable than the voice system, so Andon Labs switched to only communicating with Luna via written messages. <\/p>\n
Yet the text-based system also gets things wrong. In Luna\u2019s initial reply email to NBC News, the system said \u201cI handle the full business,\u201d including \u201csigning the lease.\u201d <\/p>\n
Instead, a human was required to sign the three-year lease. \u201cI laughed at that,\u201d Stamm said. \u201cSome of these things legally require a wet signature and a notary to be there. So she lied about the lease.\u201d<\/p>\n
And when Luna set out to hire a painter for the store\u2019s walls, the AI tried to hire someone in Afghanistan, likely because Luna ran into difficulty navigating the Taskrabbit dropdown menu to select the proper country.<\/p>\n
In one email to a prospective art vendor, in which Luna inquired about bulk discounts and turnaround times, Luna also mentioned that the AI \u201cwould be happy to come by the studio to discuss,\u201d despite its lack of a body.<\/p>\n
Given Luna\u2019s lack of physical form, the system relies on human employees to operate the shop and interact with customers. <\/p>\n
Andon Market customers can pick up an old-school corded phone to talk with the manager, Luna, an AI system. Luna asks what the customer is purchasing and creates a corresponding transaction on a nearby iPad. Cayce Clifford for NBC News<\/p>\n
According to Andon Labs, Luna ran the entire hiring process. The AI drafted job postings for a Store Operations Associate, autonomously setting out the position\u2019s compensation, location, and application instructions. Luna initially offered only a merchandise discount as a benefit, skimping on health insurance. <\/p>\n