Harvard Sells $699 Course Taught by AI Clones of Its Faculty
luisdans · x · 2026-10-22
Harvard Business School has launched HBS Foundry, an eight-week entrepreneurship boot camp priced at $699, taught partly by AI video avatars that several faculty members volunteered to create. Students can converse with the clones anytime — e.g., practicing VC pitch meetings. In a NYT experiment, reporter Sarah Kessler pitched a delusional "Uber for bananas" idea to the avatar of senior lecturer Jeff Bussgang, who stayed politely unimpressed; Bussgang admits the simulation is "a little creepy" but says students love it. The product has been tested with over 100 universities across all 50 states as Harvard seeks to expand its course offerings.
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