Ohio Amish communities use ChatGPT for business while shunning smartphones

Some Amish communities in Ohio have begun using AI tools like ChatGPT for writing emails and managing business affairs, while still rejecting smartphones and entertainment technology. Their selective approach to technology is guided by strict community boundaries. This measured attitude may offer broader lessons on how society relates to new technology.

In Ohio, some members of Amish communities — long known for rejecting modern conveniences — have quietly adopted artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT to help run their businesses. They use it to draft emails, prepare contracts, and manage commercial affairs, while still refusing to own smartphones or spend hours in front of screens.

Purpose over pleasure

For these Amish users, the distinction is clear: AI is a tool, not entertainment. Their communities apply the same principle they have always used when evaluating new technology — does it serve a necessary purpose, and can its use be tightly controlled? If the answer is yes, adoption is permitted within defined limits.

This means a farmer or craftsman might rely on a chatbot to help write a business letter in formal English, yet never check social media or browse the internet. The technology is accessed through shared or community-approved devices rather than personal smartphones.

A model for the modern world?

The phenomenon raises an intriguing question for the rest of society: could this disciplined, purpose-driven relationship with technology be the wisest approach of all? While mainstream users often struggle with screen addiction and digital overload, these Ohio communities have essentially built a firewall between useful technology and disruptive technology — and they enforce it through social norms rather than app timers.

Experts who study technology adoption have long noted that the Amish do not reject innovation outright; they evaluate each tool carefully before deciding whether it strengthens or undermines community life. The embrace of AI for commerce, while rejecting the smartphone for personal use, appears to be the latest — and perhaps most striking — example of that philosophy in action.