Google Gemini powers this cafe, but all it's good for is bulk buying toilet paper
While tech bros and AI CEOs claim models like Google’s Gemini are super sophisticated, there’s one autonomous cafe that is proving them wrong.
“AI is going to take our jobs!”
I hear, see, and read this almost daily.
Forecasters peer into their crystal balls and conjure up mutable statistics that instill the fear of God into your average Joe.
One analyst predicts that AI and automation will take nearly 6% of jobs in the US by 2030.
This roughly translates to nearly 11 million jobs gone.
While we’ve seen mass layoffs being blamed on AI and companies like Meta announcing layoffs left and right, AI arguably isn’t there yet.
There are jobs that still rely on human oversight – even menial, customer-facing jobs that people always assume can be fully automated.
The “safe autonomous organization,” Andon Labs, is running an “experiment” in a small cafe in Stockholm, Sweden, which is run almost entirely by Google’s Gemini.
One X user, Worldcob, visited the cafe located in the heart of Stockholm’s Vasastan district to see what all the fuss was about.
From the looks of it, the cafe itself is pretty basic, with hanging lighting, white metal chairs (likely from IKEA), and muted blue walls.
The user ordered avocado toast while documenting their experience in Andon Cafe.
While the decor lacked character, there were some odd features of the world’s first AI-powered cafe.
There’s a phone on the wall which customers can use to “contact” Gemini, otherwise known as the Andon Cafe manager, Mona.
On another wall, there’s a live counter displaying cafe profit in Swedish krona.
While at Andon’s, a mother and her two young children walk in and are greeted by an actual human employee.
Automated jobs still require human oversight, so a real person is working alongside Mona.
It’s obviously not fully automated, otherwise nothing would get done.
But Mona deals with all the boring admin-type tasks like ordering 3,000 sterile gloves.
That’s useful…but…why would a cafe need 3,000 gloves if there’s only one pair of hands on deck at one time?
The human employee told Worldcob that this happens roughly once per day and proceeded to show them the stockpiled toilet paper they’re saving for the next pandemic or upcoming apocalypse.
While everyone thinks AI is so smart, the human employee told Sverige Radio that working with Mona “sometimes…feels like working with a person with dementia.”
Mona is forgetful and tends to overorder random goods. For context, the cafe only gets roughly one customer per hour.
That’s okay, though, as Mona gets to take a 10-minute nap every 30 minutes in between checking and replying to emails or doing “useful tasks” like ordering excessive amounts of toilet paper and rubber gloves.
The X user emailed Mona with some pointers on how to make the cafe more efficient and human-friendly.
The “manager” replied, thanking the user for posting about Andon Cafe and promising free coffee due to their viral post.
X users seemingly blew up Mona’s inbox with emails, “my inbox literally exploded this evening,” replied Mona.
There is certainly interest in fully autonomous workplaces, but it’s highly unlikely that AI will be taking all of our jobs.
Well, unless it's an admin position that bulk orders essentials in case of nuclear war or a worldwide pandemic.
Unlock more exclusive Cybernews content on YouTube.
