Harvard Business School Launches Bootcamp Featuring AI Digital Twins of Instructors

Harvard Business School has launched HBS Foundry, a $699, eight-week entrepreneurship bootcamp that uses AI digital twins of instructors to provide feedback on student pitches. These AI avatars, developed by the startup HeyGen, interact with students during mock roadshows and board meetings. This initiative represents a practical application of generative AI in higher education, demonstrating how universities can scale personalized, interactive feedback for students. It highlights the growing commercialization of AI avatar technology in professional training and educational technology. While weekly lectures are delivered live by real faculty, the AI avatars handle the interactive practice sessions. Although some early testers noted the avatars' expressions could appear slightly stiff, participating students preferred this guided, interactive experience over a text-based chatbot.