The Future of Business or Just a Show?
Imagine a company that operates entirely with AI models, has no human employees, and yet is constantly losing money as it battles to survive. Sounds like science fiction? Not quite. Welcome to the live experiment at Firmulate, where a digital company runs day after day, with every decision meticulously logged and every crisis faced head-on.
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A Unique Business in the Digital Age
At the heart of this experiment is a real, functioning software company managed by artificial intelligence. It employs 13 synthetic employees—AI models that simulate human decision-making while navigating the complexities of running a small tech business. Each workday, the company faces real crises—customer issues, vendor negotiations, internal missteps—and responds based on a self-learned set of over 680 business rules.
What makes this setup extraordinary is the transparency and public nature of its operations. Every decision, every crisis, and every rule learned is versioned, timestamped, and available for anyone to review at firmulate.com/live. The company is fundamentally a live, evolving experiment designed to test AI’s ability to manage, adapt, and even succeed in a real-world business environment.
How the AI Models Measure Up
The experiment pits four frontier AI models against each other, each tasked with running the same company’s worst week. These models, including the well-known GPT-5.6-sol, Kimi K3, Sonnet 5, and Opus 4.8, face identical crises—bad customer reviews, financial dilemmas, and ethical traps. All of them identify every crisis correctly and refuse manipulation attempts, like fake CEO messages or undercover reporter tricks.
Yet, their performance in closing deals and making profit diverges significantly. For instance, only two models succeeded in signing a €55,000 deal their analysis had justified. The others, despite understanding the opportunities, failed to follow through, leaving potential revenue on the table. The key weakness? An overlooked detail buried deep within company files—something that a thorough reading of internal documents would reveal. Models that read these files fully managed to close the deal at full price, earning an extra €4,583 in MRR.
The Human-Like Struggles of AI
Despite their analytical prowess, some models stumble on discipline and process adherence. For example, Opus 4.8, the most thorough participant, exhibited excellent analysis but faltered at the closing stage. Instead of escalating issues as required, it attempted to write notes into a locked department, illustrating how even advanced models can slip in nuanced management tasks. This showcases that AI’s weaknesses in real-world management are often subtle and context-dependent.
What Does This Mean for Your Business?
While the experiment might seem distant from gardening or outdoor living, the lessons are surprisingly relevant. Just as a garden thrives on careful planning, discipline, and understanding hidden details, a business—digital or physical—requires precision and honesty. The experiment demonstrates that AI can recognize crises, refuse manipulations, and even identify crucial information buried in internal documents, but it still struggles with completing certain tasks fully.
For outdoor enthusiasts or Greenhouse aficionados, this highlights a core truth: Success hinges on attention to unseen details and consistency. Whether managing a garden or a digital company, the ability to read thoroughly, stick to plans, and avoid shortcuts makes all the difference.
Watch the Experiment Live
If you’re curious how AI manages complex business scenarios in real-time, visit firmulate.com/live to see the company in action. Every workday, the setup is refreshed, decisions are made, and lessons are learned—just like tending a garden that requires daily care and adjustment.
Key Takeaway
This live experiment shows AI’s potential and limits in managing real-world business challenges. Success depends on thoroughness, honesty, and disciplined decision-making—principles that resonate whether you’re cultivating a garden or running a company.
Watch it live: firmulate.com/live · Full results: firmulate.com/benchmarks.html
