ASU students create next-generation AI personas in new course with will.i.am (opens in new tab)

Dhruv Patel’s buddy knows what he knows, shares his perspectives and even mimics his speech patterns.That’s because Patel created his friend, who is not a human but an “agentic self” — an AI persona that not only completes tasks but actually reflects a person’s values, voice and goals.“I want my agent to be a riffing buddy or a friend I can bounce ideas off of,” said Patel, a third-year computer science student at Arizona State University.