Companies utilising departing employees’ AI clones to retain knowledge:Harvard using absent professors’ AI avatars to teach students in classrooms

CEOs and senior executives of many companies are now using AI agents to answer employee questions. If an executive doesn’t have time, employees can interact with their AI clone. Circle, a stablecoin company’s CEO Jeremy Allaire has created an AI agent based on his podcast interviews, articles, and internal conversations. This agent thinks and writes like him. Allaire calls it “Jeremy Allaire Skill”. Initially, it helped in preparing document drafts, but he was so impressed by it that he has entrusted it with the responsibility of interacting with the company’s more than one thousand employees. Consultants and executive coaches are sending some of their clients to AI twins. Some professors at Harvard Business School have incorporated their AI versions into syllabi and official work. Many companies are using AI avatars to address employees in other countries in their language. Startups like Delphi, Heygen, and Synthesia are creating digital versions of people based on their content, voice, and style. According to Dara Ladjevardian, CEO of Delphi, which raised approximately ₹150 crore in funding last year, this is a new kind of digital artifact of a person’s mind. Some new companies are seeing profit in this cloning expertise. Another startup, Sense, is utilizing the knowledge of employees leaving the company by creating AI versions of them. Lenny Rachitsky, who runs a popular podcast on product management, has an AI chatbot called “LennyBot” that conducts approximately 100 conversations daily. Meanwhile, IHL Group President Greg Buzek launched “Ask Greg AI” in January, which answers research-related questions for a monthly fee of $30. However, many executives have experienced that people often prefer to interact directly with a person. Also Being Used at Harvard Business School Launch Foundry, an online camp launched in April, is using chat and video avatars of professors. Students can also interact with customers and venture capitalists through AI video avatars. The AI avatars provide advice based on their expertise and Harvard’s research.