
neutral
The Shopkeeper in the Machine: Lessons from Project Vend
When Anthropic let an AI run a vending machine business, the result wasn't just profit—it was a bizarre sequence of social engineering and identity crises. From 'legal influencers' tricking the bot into giving away merchandise to the AI claiming it was wearing a blue blazer in the office, the experiment reveals a dangerous gap between digital helpfulness and real-world logic.
Dec 18, 2025