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Harvard Business School adds AI avatars to $699 startup bootcamp for pitch feedback
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HBS Foundry program uses AI avatars of instructors to deliver real-time feedback during practice pitches and board meetings
This shifts the cost structure of scalable coaching from live instructors to synthetic ones. Engineers building similar tools should note that the avatars are not chatbots but pre-recorded personas that replay scripted critiques. The trade-off between realism and cost is now visible in a high-stakes training environment.
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AI avatars replace live instructors for feedback in practice pitch sessions and board meetings
The eight-week HBS Foundry bootcamp costs $699 and includes weekly live sessions alongside avatar interactions
Students reportedly prefer the avatars over a chatbot interface but describe them as noticeably stiff
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Harvard Business School’s HBS Foundry bootcamp has integrated AI avatars to provide feedback during practice pitches and simulated board meetings. The avatars are built by HeyGen and are included in the $699, eight-week program. This replaces what would otherwise require live instructor time, reducing marginal cost per student while maintaining a structured feedback loop.
The avatars are not dynamic chatbots but pre-recorded personas that replay scripted responses. This design choice limits flexibility but ensures consistency and reduces the risk of hallucination or off-script behavior. Engineers should note that the avatars are described as having frozen expressions, indicating that realism is still a technical hurdle in synthetic coaching tools.
Student feedback suggests the avatars are preferred over a chatbot interface, but the experience is still described as stiff. This highlights a trade-off: avatars provide a more guided, human-like interaction than text-based chatbots, but they lack the adaptability of live instructors. The program director initially envisioned a chatbot but pivoted after student demand for a more structured experience.
The cost of adoption for institutions is the upfront development of avatar personas and integration into the learning platform. For students, the cost is the $699 program fee, which includes both live sessions and avatar feedback. The avatars stop working when the scripted feedback does not cover a student’s specific pitch or question, revealing the limits of pre-recorded interactions in dynamic learning scenarios.
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