Harvard Begins Creating AI-Generated Avatars of Its Professors

At Harvard Business School, personalized feedback provided within the entrepreneurship training program “Foundry” is now delivered by professor avatars powered by artificial intelligence.

• This system has already been tested at more than 100 universities across 50 states, and it could accelerate the transformation of universities into software platforms, as fundraising becomes even more critical due to the reforms of the Trump administration.

Access to this highly specific entrepreneurship program costs $699, which is less than 1% of the annual MBA tuition at Harvard, standing at $84,760 for the 2026-2027 academic year. Several Harvard Business School professors have already agreed to create their digital avatars.

• Developed by the startup HeyGen, these avatars provide real-time feedback during presentation exercises and simulations of board meetings. Weekly sessions with the instructors complement the program.

Neither U.S. copyright law nor university employment contracts are designed to address the digital reproduction of a professor.

• Copyright indeed protects pedagogical materials (lecture recordings, summaries, case studies), but not the abstract characteristics of voice, face, or teaching style. These fall under the “right of publicity,” a right that several states have already extended to include AI-based reproductions.
• More generally, in the United States, teachers hold rights to their courses and teaching materials. But since the rise of MOOCs, the main teachers’ association has warned against universities attempting to claim these rights, a conflict that the avatar, influenced by the courses and the professor’s style, highlights.
• Moreover, several lawyers have noted that a general contractual clause is not sufficient to create these avatars; a written and specific agreement is required. The question of the status of the likeness if the professor leaves the institution, as well as how revenues generated by it would be shared, remains open.

• The creation of these avatars also fuels criticism from some members of the faculty who view the university leadership’s directives to “integrate artificial intelligence” as a preparation for replacement rather than faithful support.
• One of the professors who agreed to the terms admits that there is something “creepy” about his digital avatar, but insists: “My students love it.”