Business Leaders Deploy AI Doubles to Scale Communication

Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle, has deployed an AI version of himself to facilitate dialogue with his 1,000 employees. This adoption of AI doubles—text and video avatars trained on personal data—is becoming more common among business leaders and academics seeking to scale their availability. Podcast host Lenny Rachitsky uses a similar tool called Lennybot to field daily inquiries, while Harvard Business Publishing has integrated professor avatars into its Foundry online boot camp.

Companies such as Delphi, HeyGen, and Synthesia provide the underlying technology for these mimics. Dara Ladjevardian, CEO of Delphi, characterizes these AI doubles as a new way for people to experience an individual, comparing them to books or paintings.

Despite the technological capabilities, some leaders report limited success in replacing personal contact. Adam Dorrell, CEO of CustomerGauge, trained an AI double on 2 million words but noted that clients still prefer direct human interaction. Similarly, Harvard lecturer Lou Shipley found that students continued to favor human substitutes over AI versions.