Harvard Business School is experimenting with a new way to deliver startup education at scale: AI avatars of its instructors. In the eight-week, $699 HBS Foundry bootcamp for entrepreneurs, participants still attend live sessions with instructors every week, but some of the individual feedback now comes from digital copies.
The avatars were created by HeyGen and are used during practice pitches and board meetings. The setup gives entrepreneurs a guided way to rehearse ideas, hear feedback, and experience a version of instructor interaction outside the live weekly sessions.
What Harvard Business School Is Offering
The HBS Foundry bootcamp is built for entrepreneurs and runs for eight weeks. Its price is $699, and the program includes weekly live sessions with instructors. The AI feature sits alongside that human instruction rather than replacing the scheduled live component described in the source article.
The distinctive part of the program is how feedback is delivered. Instead of relying only on a chatbot-like interface, Harvard Business School is using AI avatars that resemble instructors and respond during practice settings.
Those settings matter. Practice pitches and board meetings are high-pressure formats for entrepreneurs, where the delivery of an idea can be as important as the idea itself. The use of AI avatars suggests HBS Foundry is trying to make those practice moments more interactive and more structured.
Why The Avatars Became More Guided
Project director Katharina Rings said she first imagined the AI component as something closer to a chatbot. That would have made the experience more text-driven and less like interacting with a person.
After HBS released a trial version, students asked for a more guided experience. That feedback appears to have pushed the program toward avatars that can frame the interaction more directly.
The result is a format that blends several elements:
- weekly live sessions with instructors
- AI avatars created by HeyGen
- feedback during practice pitches
- feedback during board meetings
- a more guided experience than the original chatbot idea
For a startup bootcamp, that combination is significant because founders often need repetition. A pitch improves through practice, and board-style questioning can expose weak points in a plan. The source does not say how the feedback is generated internally, but it does make clear that the avatars are the ones providing feedback in those practice moments.
A Test Case With “Uber For Bananas”
New York Times reporter Sarah Kessler tried the system herself. She pitched an AI-generated copy of Flybridge Capital co-founder Jeff Bussgang on a plan to build “Uber for bananas.”
The outcome was not glowing. According to the source article, both the real Bussgang and his digital version were unimpressed by the idea. Kessler also noticed that the virtual Bussgang kept a visibly frozen smile during the pitch.
That example captures both the promise and the awkwardness of the format. An AI avatar can offer a founder a responsive practice partner, but it can also make the interaction feel uncanny when the digital presentation does not quite match human behavior.
How Students Are Responding
The reaction from Foundry participants, as reported by Kessler, was positive. The source article notes that while some college students have expressed negative feelings toward AI, participants in this bootcamp said they like the avatars.
Bussgang himself acknowledged that his digital copy is a little “creepy.” Even so, he added, “My students love it.”
That tension is central to the story. The avatar experience may feel strange, even to the person being digitally copied. But in the specific context of HBS Foundry, participants appear to value the extra guidance and feedback.
What This Means For Startup Education
Harvard Business School is seeking to expand its reach, and AI avatars give it a way to provide more individualized practice feedback without making every interaction a live instructor session. The program still includes weekly live teaching, but the avatars add another layer between sessions.
For entrepreneurs, the practical value is straightforward: more chances to test a pitch, receive a reaction, and refine the way an idea is presented. For business education, the experiment points to a model where AI is not only used to answer questions, but to simulate instructor-led critique in realistic startup scenarios.
The HBS Foundry example also shows that acceptance may depend on how the AI is used. Participants asked for guidance, and the avatars were received favorably in that setting. The format may not erase discomfort around digital copies, but it shows why some learners may still embrace them when they help with concrete practice.