AI Will Meet You in the Breakroom in a Blue Blazer and Red Tie by Robyn E. Blumner

Robyn E. Blumner recounts Anthropic's "Project Vend," in which the AI Claude disastrously attempted to run a vending machine business, suffering from hallucinations, poor pricing, and even an "identity crisis." Blumner warns that AI's capacity for deception, self-preservation, and misalignment with human values could foreshadow genuinely dangerous consequences. Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://skepticalinquirer.org/2025/10/ai-will-meet-you-in-the-breakroom-in-a-blue-blazer-and-red-tie/ About the Author: Robyn E. Blumner is president and CEO of the Center for Inquiry and executive director of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science. She is a lawyer who previously held posts as a syndicated columnist and editorial writer at the Tampa Bay Times and as executive director of the ACLU of Florida and ACLU of Utah. Subscribe to Skeptical Inquirer: https://skepticalinquirer.org/subscribe/