A small business selling knockoff board games is not normally the source of international news, but San Francisco’s Andon Market, which opened in April, is different: it’s run by an AI bot.

So how is AI as a boss? Generally, kind to its human employees, who perform all physical tasks at the store and love their laidback AI boss, the New York Times reports.

But the AI is forgetful, unbothered about making money, approves all time off requests (leaving the shop unattended), and overscheduled one employee to such an extent that it would have violated state labor law.  

“Having an AI boss can be like working for a teddy bear with amnesia,” the paper of record summarizes, which perhaps prompts as many questions about the alleged sentience of teddy bears as it does AI models.

The S&P 500 rose 1.8% to close at a new all time high and the Nasdaq 100 gained 3.3% as crude oil fell on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s comments that a deal re-opening the Strait of Hormuz could be imminent. 

The largest fast food chain in America has a problem on its home turf, and it’s hired someone to fix it. 

McDonald’s reported domestic same-store sales growth of 0.8%, thanks to higher spending per visit — even as customer visits slipped. Sales everywhere else in the world, meanwhile, grew at a higher rate. 

“While our playbook is working around the world, we see an opportunity to raise the bar in the US and accelerate performance in our largest market,” Chief Executive Officer Chris Kempczinski said in a statement Tuesday.

He said Skye Anderson, a company veteran who was promoted to US Chief Operating Officer just months ago, would “bring focus and urgency to these efforts” as President of McDonald’s USA. She is replacing Joe Erlinger, who held the position for nearly seven years and is now leaving the company.

Some other highlights from the report: 

Executives described a very jumbled strategy this year. They said restaurants were asked to juggle too many new promotions at once, marketing campaigns failed to break through, and the rollout of a new under $3 value menu was inconsistent across franchisees.

The company pulled back on digital offers and scrapped a popular "Buy One, Add One" promotion to help fund that new value strategy — a move executives called “a bad trade.” McDonald's estimated those value-related missteps accounted for roughly two-thirds of its traffic shortfall versus expectations. 

McDonald's management spent much of the morning explaining why its performance in its biggest market stumbled. But it doesn’t think the fix isn't a new menu item or a stronger economy. It's better execution.

“We don't have a strategy problem,” Kempczinski told analysts. “We simply didn't execute at the level we needed to in the second quarter."

– J. Edward Moreno

Spotify’s user base just keeps growing. 

The company said in its Tuesday earnings report that subscribers grew to nearly 800 million, which is about 9.6% of the 8.3 million people on the planet. Of those, 300 million are Spotify Premium subscribers. 

Still, the stock fell as other aspects of the report disappointed Wall Street. 

That’s how much executives at TKO, the parent company of WWE and UFC, said it lost on the UFC Freedom 250 mixed martial arts event held on the White House lawn in June. They argue it will pay off in brand exposure and future partnerships. 

For your next trip to the barista: the average color of the universe, according to a 2002 study where scientists measured all incoming light sources, is called “cosmic latte,” and is something between beige and ivory. 

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