Amish entrepreneurs are using AI better than CEOs

Who are the Amish?

During the years I lived in northern Indiana, I often drove through the nearby countryside where many Amish people lived. They are a predominantly Swiss and German Christian group who tend to live simply, shun technology, and follow traditions that have changed little over the past century. I knew I was in Amish country when none of the farms had power lines and Walmart had hitch rails for horse-drawn carriages.

I remember driving by a field and seeing a strong farmer plowing the field with a team of horses. The golden early morning sunlight was like a scene from a movie from 100 years ago. I wondered how long he and his descendants could sustain this lifestyle.

In fact, Amish life has changed in many ways. Nowadays, most people earn their income by working for small businesses or for others. Farming still continues, but more as a side job than a main occupation. Depending on the rules of a particular church, several forms of technology have become acceptable, such as solar power for household electricity and “dumb” cell phones. Televisions and cars were not yet common.

Amish vibe coder?

The Amish are very entrepreneurial. Originally, businesses focused on agricultural products and traditional skills such as carpentry. But today, manufacturing and other ventures are common. Today, it’s nearly impossible to run a business without Internet access, so services exist to provide that access and filter out potentially objectionable content.

I knew to some extent, but I was surprised. new york magazine article Eric German pointed out that some Amish sects are fully committed to AI, despite banning televisions and cars. German focuses on one family-owned manufacturing business. There, a son explains how he uses ChatGPT to create dashboards and tracking systems for sales, finance, and production. Instead of buying expensive commercial software, they mostly vibecoded it. My cousin used ChatGPT to draft a rental agreement and his attorney approved it without any changes.

Empathetic communication using AI

An article from Germany caught my attention. One of the sons in the business had to write a difficult email to a client. We needed input to keep the project on schedule, and we needed to communicate it well, but not in a way that would provoke a negative reaction. ChatGPT has created the perfect email.

I’ve seen marketing departments with seven-figure budgets fail at exactly that email. This is called an empathy audit. Before a message is sent, do a quick check to see how it will actually arrive. The Amish son ran without thinking about it. Most business leaders have never run a business at all.

Over the years, I’ve seen tone-deaf communications from large corporations that end up infuriating the recipient. Two years ago, I showed you how. AI may be able to predict customer reactions They communicate with empathy and understanding, even though they have no empathy or emotions per se. Last year, Swiss scientists showed that: AI models consistently beat humans in emotional intelligence tests. Today’s model is even better.

So if AI can help us better understand how customers and employees will react to policy announcements, crisis communications, and other business messages, why do leaders rely on their intuition even when the stakes are high?

As an example, Carnival Cruise Line announced changes to its loyalty program. Infuriated my most loyal customers By revoking lifetime status. After months of backlash, Carnival reversed course and restored lifetime status to its top tier members. By then the brand was tarnished.

A 60-second empathy audit using Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini could have predicted the reactions that would occur and prevented months of anxiety.

In short, many otherwise wise business leaders can learn lessons about business communication from the Amish. That means giving AI empathy for important messages.