CASE 02 / BRANDED AI AVATARS & DIGITAL HUMANS
BUILDING AN INTERACTIVE DIGITAL HUMAN AROUND A REAL PERSON.
AI Ben brings a real person’s face, voice, knowledge, perspective and conversational character into one live digital experience. Without pretending the technology is the person.
A focused AI conversation partner for business, leadership, difficult conversations and personal clarity.
63
PEOPLE IN THE FIRST RECORDED USER GROUP
± 120 HRS
OF CONVERSATIONS OVER ABOUT 2.5 MONTHS
± 60%
OF USERS WERE CEOS OR LEADERS
8 MIN–3.5 HRS
RANGE OF TOTAL USE PER PERSON
AI BEN / LIVE DIGITAL HUMAN
THE DESIGN CHALLENGE
MAKE EXPERTISE AVAILABLE WITHOUT MAKING THE PERSON GENERIC
A knowledge base can retrieve an answer. A generic assistant can discuss almost anything. Neither automatically carries a recognisable point of view or knows where it should stop.
AI Ben needed to stay close to a specific field: strategy, entrepreneurship, leadership, communication, difficult conversations and the personal friction underneath business questions.
GENERIC AI
BROAD CAPABILITY
Useful across many topics, but the user often has to supply the direction, context and tone again.
AI BEN
FOCUSSED CHARACTER
A narrower conversation partner grounded in a specific body of knowledge, way of asking, field and set of boundaries.
ONE REPRESENTATIVE / FIVE CONNECTED LAYERS
REALISM COMES FROM
COHERENCE
No single layer creates AI Ben. A realistic face with generic answers still feels generic. Strong knowledge with the wrong voice, rhythm or behaviour still feels disconnected.
The experience works when every layer reinforces the same role, point of view and boundary.
DIGITAL
AI BEN
Designed as one experience around a clear role, purpose and field.
01
FACE & PRESENCE
A recognisable visual identity built around a real person.
02
VOICE & LANGUAGE
Ben’s voice, conversational rhythm and direct way of speaking.
03
KNOWLEDGE & VIEW
Articles, frameworks, cases, coaching experience, beliefs and working principles.
04
CHARACTER & BOUNDRIES
A consistent way of questioning, responding, challenging and knowing where to stop.
05
LIVE INTERACTION & MEMORY
Voice-first conversation with continuity across sessions rather than isolated answers.
01
BUSINESS & STRATEGIC CLARITY
02
LEADERSHIP & RESPONSIBILITY
03
DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS & BOUNDARIES
04
PITCH, PRESENTATION & SPEECH PREPARATION
THE LIVE EXPERIENCE
DON'T TYPE. JUST TALK
The interface lowers the distance between having a thought and starting a conversation. A user speaks naturally, receives an immediate voiced response and can stay with the subject long enough for the first question to develop into the real one.
The value is not merely that AI Ben answers. It is that the experience is designed to keep direction, ask back and support reflection without taking over the user’s judgement.
WHAT THE FIRST USERS REVEALED
THE BUSINESS QUESTION OFTEN HAS A PERSONAL LAYER.
In the observed early group, an estimated 90% of CEOs and leaders discussed only personal subjects. Those subjects could still relate to work, but they were not introduced as strategy, performance or employee cases.
That does not prove why leaders chose AI or that AI produced a better outcome. It does show that a digital experience designed for business questions must be able to recognise when the real friction sits somewhere underneath the original brief.
± 90%
OF CEOS AND LEADERS IN THIS EARLY GROUP DISCUSSED EXCLUSIVELY PERSONAL SUBJECTS.
NOT BUSINESS OR PERSONAL. OFTEN BOTH
A strategy question may contain fear of visibility. A leadership issue may contain conflict avoidance. A pitch may expose self-doubt.
AI Ben is designed to keep business, language, responsibility and personal clarity in the same conversation—without presenting itself as therapy.
EARLY USE / REAL BEHAVIOUR
120
APPROXIMATE CONVERSATION HOURS ACROSS 63 EARLY USERS
Over two and a half months, the first recorded group used AI Ben for approximately 120 hours. Some visitors stopped after about eight minutes. Others returned across two to five sessions and reached roughly three and a half hours of total use.
The group included personal contacts and spontaneous website visitors. About 60% were CEOs or leaders, 30% employees and 10% private individuals.
CEOS / LEADERS
± 60%
8 MIN
LOW END OF OBSERVED USE
These figures describe one early, self-selected user group. Only anonymised topic categories were reviewed; conversation transcripts were not analysed. The observations are neither representative research nor proof of coaching effectiveness.
3.5 HRS
HIGH END, ACROSS MULTIPLE SESSIONS
EMPLOYEES
± 30%
PRIVATE
± 10%
THE ETHICAL LINE
AI BEN IS NOT BEN.
AI Ben uses Bens face, voice, knowledge, frameworks, questions and way of looking at things. It does not have his lived experience, feelings or human responsibility.
The more human a digital representative feels, the more clearly its role, limits and escalation paths must be designed. Honesty is not a disclaimer added afterwards; it is part of the experience.
WHO COULD YOUR ORGANISATION MAKE AVAILABLE?
We design digital representatives around the person, expertise, brand role and customer journey they need to serve.
THE CASE
NOT A FACE ON A CHATBOT. A DESIGNED REPRESENTATIVE.
AI Ben began with a practical question: can access to a person’s way of thinking become available beyond the moments when that person can be present?
The answer required more than uploading articles or generating a likeness. The experience needed a clear role, a recognisable voice, a bounded field of knowledge, conversational behaviour, continuity and an honest distinction between AI Ben and Ben.
CLIENT
Ben Steenstra
CONTEXT
Voice-first live digital human
CHALLENGE
Focused thinking and conversation
WEMINDD ROLE
Strategy, character, experience and orchestration