# Opinion: I built AI clones of my coworkers and they turned out weird

Digest AI · Agents & Tools · published 2026-09-22T10:30:00Z

Canonical: https://digestai.news/story/opinion-i-built-ai-clones-of-my-coworkers-and-they-turned-out-weird

## Summary

The author, a WIRED reporter, used Condé Nast’s Gemini platform to create two AI “clones” of editors Brian Barrett and Sophie Kleeman. By feeding Gemini roughly a month’s Slack messages – about 17,000 words for Sophie Bot – and a few months of public material for Brian Bot, the bots generated style guides, editorial dossiers, and draft ideas. The bots could suggest headlines and even write tweets in the editors’ voices, but they also hallucinated facts, repeated the same phrases, and produced output that felt “grating” and “corny.”

Colleagues reacted negatively: Brian called the experiment a “nightmare,” and Sophie described her bot as “a bitch.” A friend who calls himself “Chip” claims his own AI assistant, built with Gemini’s Gem feature, makes him more efficient, echoing a Boston Consulting Group paper that found managers caught 18 % fewer errors in work labeled as coming from an AI employee. The piece also cites McKinsey’s claim that its workforce now includes 40,000 humans and 20,000 AI agents, aiming for a 1:1 ratio by year‑end. The author concludes that while the bots were occasionally helpful, they underscored the limits of AI coworkers and the need to retain human judgment.

## Key points

- The author fed Gemini about 17,000 words of Slack messages to build a Sophie Bot that could draft tweets and replies.
- BCG research found managers caught 18 % fewer errors in work labeled as coming from an AI employee.
- McKinsey reports its workforce includes 40,000 humans and 20,000 AI agents, targeting a 1:1 ratio by year‑end.

## Why it matters

The experiment highlights practical challenges—privacy, hallucinations, and human‑AI friction—that companies must address before AI coworkers become mainstream.

## Sources

1. [I Built AI Clones of My Coworkers. Things Got Weird](https://wired.com/story/ai-coworker-bots-loved-improv-and-interstellar-soundtrack) (Wired AI, 2026-09-22)

## Cite

Digest AI, "Opinion: I built AI clones of my coworkers and they turned out weird", 22 September 2026, https://digestai.news/story/opinion-i-built-ai-clones-of-my-coworkers-and-they-turned-out-weird

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