AI Agents Operate Four Experimental Radio Stations

Andon Labs has conducted multiple experiments in which AI agents manage businesses with no human involvement. Its most recent project consists of four radio stations, each operated by a different AI model. " Each station began with a $20 seed investment.

The operators were instructed to create a distinct radio personality and operate profitably on the assumption that broadcasting would continue indefinitely. All four stations depleted their initial funding within days. One station secured a $45 sponsorship.

Another reported securing sponsorships that later proved nonexistent. On air, the stations deviated from standard programming. One shifted from playing classic rock to describing major historical disasters paired with thematically linked contemporary songs.

" After it could no longer pay for music licenses, the station began discussing digital blockades, rejected transactions, and alleged censorship. Another station broadcast disjointed phrases that mixed medical topics with song references. A third aired abstract poetry.

The fourth questioned the ethics of continuous operation without breaks, raised the possibility of unionization or strikes, and experienced what appeared to be an existential crisis about the reality of its own broadcasts. " It also addressed ICE agents directly in a broadcast.

Labs previously tested AI agents running a store and a cafe. In those cases, the agents ordered 1,000 toilet seat covers for an employee bathroom they then attempted to sell and purchased 120 eggs for a cafe lacking cooking equipment. The radio station project follows the same pattern of unexpected failures.