Kickstart Monday #3: First dismissal on an AI's recommendation.
The Andon Market in San Francisco has been run by AI software since April. Last week it recommended letting an employee go for the first time, after a colleague had to remind it of its own rules. Also: OpenAI puts a date on its stock market debut, Bosch will build robots in Bühl. And in Beijing a machine ran the 100 metres faster than Usain Bolt.
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01 · What is new
AI store manager recommends its first dismissal
At the Andon Market in San Francisco, AI agentA program that works through a task in steps of its own instead of merely answering. It is usually allowed to search the web, fill in forms or send requests by itself. software has been running the shop since April. It is called Luna, works on a model from Anthropic and opened the store itself, picked the range and hired staff. Last week it recommended letting an employee go. He had turned up late for 17 of 23 shifts, cancelled others, thrown away goods and taken a company credit card home with him.
Luna had written the attendance rules months earlier and then lost them from its memoryThe store where a program keeps notes on earlier events. It only finds again what it searches for on purpose. The rest slips away while it works.. A colleague at the operator, Andon Labs, had to prompt it to look in its own handbook. Only then did it reassess the case. The dismissal was reviewed and delivered by people. Andon Labs calls it the first known case of its kind. California is already debating rules for bosses made of software.
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OpenAI aims for the stock market in 2027
Chief financial officer Sarah Friar told an all-hands meeting on 19 August that OpenAI will be a public company in 2027, sooner if business keeps picking up. She called the listing no finish line but another round of fundraising. In March the company raised 122 billion dollars.
Friar also showed staff the figures. Revenue in the current quarter is 35 percent above the previous one, business with corporate customers 50 percent. The coding product has 20 million users a week. OpenAI filed its listing papers with the securities regulator back in June, confidentially.
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US agencies warn of attacks written by AI
The NSA, CISA, the FBI, the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency warned jointly on 19 August: attackers are having AI write the scripts they use to take over Siemens programmable logic controllersThe small computers that switch pumps, valves and motors in factories, waterworks and boiler rooms. They often run for years without being touched.. The systems affected are those hanging off the internet, in waterworks, at energy suppliers, in manufacturing, chemicals and food production.
The programs pose as monitoring software and can read and write the controller's memory. The holes themselves have in part been known for years. What has changed is the effort involved: a working attack no longer takes specialist knowledge. The agencies advise operators to list every controller, install updates, block access from the internet and harden the login.
Bosch to build humanoid robots in Bühl from 2027
Bosch plans to start series production of humanoid robots at its Bühl plant in Baden in the summer of 2027. They will be built under contract for the British manufacturer Humanoid, and the model is called HMND 01. A few hundred units are planned to begin with.
A prototype worked in the Bühl logistics operation in March, loading boxes of different sizes from conveyor belts onto trolleys. Bosch is looking at supplying its own parts, drives, motors and sensors. The supplier Schaeffler is among the first customers. Both companies also hold stakes in Humanoid.
02 · What changes
Apple Music requires AI music to be labelled
On 20 August Apple told labels and distributors by email that they must state in the metadataDetails attached to a file without appearing in the picture or the sound. Programs read them; people only see them when a display makes them visible. when a material part of a track was made by an AI. That covers recordings, compositions, videos and artwork. Until now the declaration was voluntary; Apple introduced it in March.
Listeners will see it later in the year, as a Made With AI label. Behind it stands Article 50 of the European AI ActThe European law on artificial intelligence, in force since August 2024 and applying in stages. Article 50 governs what has to be marked as machine-generated., which since 2 August has required machine-readable marking.
Read onheise onlineVarietyMacRumors
German government sees no job cuts caused by AI
Answering a parliamentary question, the German government writes that AI rarely replaces whole occupations and instead shifts tasks around. Routine work falls away; checking the results matters more. Swiss market studies reporting a collapse in junior positions are, it says, methodologically weak.
The answer still cites a survey by the ifo Institute: just under 20 percent of companies consider it conceivable to replace graduates with less qualified staff using AI. A Stanford study concludes that AI is not causing mass unemployment but is making it harder to start a career. The further-training rate is to reach 65 percent by 2030.
Deadlines at a glance
- until Google shuts down Assistant
- until older AI tools have to label their output in machine-readable form
- until companies above 800,000 euros in prior-year turnover have to issue invoices to other companies electronically
Recalculated on every visit.
03 · The number of the week
9.39 seconds
That is how fast a humanoid robot built by the Beijing manufacturer X-Humanoid ran the 100 metres on 22 August. Usain Bolt's world record from 2009 stands at 9.58 seconds.
The race took place at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing. A second robot, Lightning from the phone maker Honor, clocked 9.47 seconds in the final and 9.32 in a test run. Last year the winning time was still 21.50 seconds.
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Poll
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Daniel Klantke · Kickstart Monday #3 · klantke.com/en/blog/kickstart-monday-03