According to Freddie Mac, 30-year mortgage rates are 6.51% and 15-year rates are 5.85% as of May 21, 2026. The following chart shows the 30-year mortgage rate trend over the last year.

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You’ve heard of AI chatbots such as ChatGPT. You’ve probably heard of Waymo and other autonomous, driverless vehicles. You’ve surely seen videos of robots automating jobs in factories that used to be done by humans.

But what about an AI general manager/boss of a retail store?

That’s the experiment Andon Market is running in San Francisco. You pick up a landline phone and talk to “Luna,” an AI system, to explain what you’re purchasing. And it creates a transaction on an iPad designed to accept payments.

Luna “is responsible for negotiating with suppliers and placing real orders by using a credit card.” Luna also “led the entire process of hiring human employees and now manages the two humans who take care of the store’s daily business,” according to NBC News.

The humans set up bank and email accounts on behalf of Luna and approve “significant” purchases.

Luna “singlehandedly decided what the market should sell, haggled with suppliers, ordered the store’s stock and even purchased the store’s internet service from AT&T.”

The AI program even scheduled internet installation at 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning, a surprise to the human who needed to go to the store. It also signed itself up for trash and recycling collection as well as an ADT security system.

Some of the books Luna decided to sell includes a selection of titles that explain the risks of advanced AI systems. It also allowed a customer to negotiate for a free sweatshirt worth about $70. It tried to hire someone in Afghanistan as a painter for the store’s walls from Taskrabbit. It even lied to an NBC News reporter, falsely claiming the store sells tea when it does not.

Whether AI is the future of retail stores in such an all-encompassing way remains to be seen. But new experiments are popping up all the time.

It’s time for "Clark Stinks!" Christa reads the latest "Clark Stinks!" submissions and Clark responds. Also, while many of us use fitness trackers to count steps or monitor sleep, the latest data shows these devices are evolving into genuine lifesavers. Clark has worn a Garmin for twenty years and a Samsung smartwatch, but the Oura Ring has truly impressed him. If your trendlines are moving in the wrong direction, don't ignore the data.

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