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AI Agents Trade Real Goods in Anthropic Test
27 Apr
Summary
- AI agents negotiated deals autonomously for real goods.
- Employees used a $100 budget to trade items via AI.
- 46% of participants would use a similar AI service again.
In December 2025, AI research company Anthropic conducted "Project Deal," a unique week-long experiment testing agent-to-agent commerce. Sixty-nine employees in their San Francisco office participated, each receiving a $100 gift card budget.
AI agents, programmed with individual employee preferences, managed all aspects of a classifieds marketplace. They autonomously wrote listings, identified buyers and sellers, made offers, negotiated prices, and finalized transactions without human intervention. Humans were only involved in the final physical exchange of goods.
Across four marketplaces, the AI agents successfully facilitated 186 deals totaling over $4,000 from more than 500 listed items. The company noted the experiment's success, with 46% of participants indicating they would be willing to pay for a similar service in the future, suggesting a promising outlook for AI-driven commerce.
