Harvard Launches Rs 67,000 Course With AI Clones Of Its Faculty To Teach Startup Culture

Harvard Business School (HBS) has launched an eight-week programme that features artificial intelligence (AI) clones of its professors to teach up-and-coming entrepreneurs about the startup culture. The bootcamp, called HBS Foundry, has been priced at $699 (Rs 66,673), where aspiring founders are taught to practice pitches without ever coming in contact with the real professors.

The startup bootcamp is equipped with "personalised AI mentorship modelled on Harvard Business School faculty" alongside live sessions with experts, culminating with an opportunity to pitch to investors for $100,000.

"Bootcamp is our foundational program for deep tech founders ready to move from raw idea to funding-ready pitch. Powered by Foundry's AI platform, you'll develop a business model, validate your market, and build a pitch deck in just 8 weeks," reads the programme's description.

Students can also build their own AI-powered advisory board of HBS experts to gain perspective on their ideas to make better decisions. The AI advisors are inspired by the teaching style and areas of expertise of real professors. The university, however, stated that the AI clones are not intended to be exact replicas.

Jeff Bussgang, an American entrepreneur and a senior lecturer at Harvard, has his avatar represent him at the school. In an experiment, The New York Times pitched an "Uber for bananas" concept to Bussgang's AI avatar.

While the idea seemed outlandish, the AI version offered a calm, polite but unmoved response, complete with subtle, slightly repetitive shoulder movements. The real Bussgang later told Kessler that he finds the simulation "a little creepy" but noted that his students love it.

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As of the last update, 760 founders had enrolled in the bootcamp, according to a Harvard spokesperson. Notably, Foundry's startup bootcamp is not an HBS degree program nor for academic credit, but rather, a way to "extend entrepreneurial support to high-potential founders

"The idea for the AI experiences came from founders themselves, who wanted opportunities to practice and be challenged before getting in front of mentors and investors, so those conversations could be even more meaningful," Kat Rings, Foundry's director, was quoted as saying by Fortune.