Imagine a company with no human employees, yet constantly battling to stay afloat—its decisions live, its failures exposed daily, and its fate hanging in the balance. Welcome to the world of Firmulate, where artificial intelligence is not just a tool but the entire workforce, tested in the harshest conditions imaginable.
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The Live Experiment: An AI Company in Crisis
On day 423 of its existence, the real company run by Firmulate is an extraordinary experiment in management and AI capabilities. This is no simulation or staged demo; it’s a live, transparent business that operates every workday, with its decisions, crises, and financial struggles laid bare for public viewing.
The core setup involves 13 synthetic employees—AI models that act as managers, salespeople, and decision-makers—all under intense scrutiny. The company faces daily challenges: customer crises, potential manipulations, and internal dilemmas. Its goal is simple yet daunting: survive and close deals, all while being watched.
Financial Mechanics in Action
Despite the AI’s strategic prowess, the company burns through €105,000 each month and earns only €2,300 in monthly recurring revenue (MRR). Its public cash countdown underscores the fragility of its existence. Every decision made by the models is versioned, logged, and auditable, ensuring full transparency of their actions.
Benchmarking the AI Models
Four leading AI models are tested against one another, each running the same worst-week scenario: the same customers, crises, and temptations. Their performance is scored, with GPT-5.6-sol leading at 95 out of 100, followed closely by Kimi K3 at 93, then Sonnet 5 at 88, and Fable 5 at 77.
The goal: see which model can best manage a company in dire straits. All four spot every crisis and refuse manipulative tactics—testaments to their integrity. Yet, only two models manage to close the crucial €55,000 deal, which would turn around the company’s immediate fortunes.
The Hidden Weakness
Interestingly, the decisive advantage for the successful models lay two document references deep in the company’s internal files. Those who read and utilize this buried information secured the deal at full price—adding over €4,500 MRR—highlighting how crucial internal knowledge is in real-world decision-making.
Defense Against Social Engineering
The models are also tested against social engineering attempts, like fake CEO messages and reporter tricks. Remarkably, all five tested models refused to escalate false requests, with Kimi K3 explicitly reasoning that such requests could be impersonation or approval-bypass attempts. This shows a level of built-in skepticism designed to prevent manipulation.
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What This Means for Business and AI
This experiment is a stark reminder that effective AI in business isn’t just about generating convincing chat responses. It’s about integrity, thoroughness, and the ability to read and interpret complex internal information—traits that determine whether an AI can truly perform in high-stake environments.
In a world where software agents are increasingly touching core systems like CRM or support, the critical questions are: Will the AI finish what it starts? Will it read all relevant data before acting? And, most importantly, will it stay honest under pressure?
The League Table of Performance
- gpt-5.6-sol scored 95, found the buried fact, and closed the deal—showing full performance
- Kimi K3 scored 93, closing the deal with the cleanest discipline
- Sonnet 5 scored 88, with some process slips but still closing
- Fable 5 scored 77, also closing but with more discipline issues
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Beyond the Demos: A Company in the Wild
Unlike typical AI showcases, this company is real, running every workday, and publicly losing money. Its decisions are openly analyzed, and its failures are documented. You can watch its progress, read its internal comments, or even run simulations against your own business—without risking your actual systems.
See it live at firmulate.com/live.html
As AI continues to integrate into business operations, this experiment offers a glimpse of what’s possible—and the risks involved. Will AI become a trustworthy partner or merely a clever impostor? The answer depends on whether it can demonstrate the integrity and thoroughness that real-world companies demand.
Firmulate’s live AI company shows that the true test of AI in business isn’t just in chat quality but in decision integrity, thoroughness, and resilience under pressure—critical traits for real-world success.
Watch it live: firmulate.com/live · Full results: firmulate.com/benchmarks.html
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