Building Personality into AI: The Path to Authentic Connection

When we think of artificial intelligence, it’s easy to imagine a lifeless, robotic entity—one that’s efficient and functional but lacks any semblance of human connection. While this may work for purely transactional applications, it falls short in scenarios where trust, comfort, and engagement are paramount.

Why do personality and familiarity matter in AI?

To truly resonate with users, AI needs more than intelligence. It needs both personality and familiarity. By giving AI agents distinct characteristics, emotions, and voices—and tying them to real-world talent—we can blur the line between human and machine, creating user experiences that feel authentic, familiar, and even personal.

1. Builds Trust: A personality makes AI feel approachable, but familiarity deepens trust. Users are more likely to engage with an AI that carries the voice or persona of someone they recognize and respect.
2. Encourages Engagement: A crafted personality, especially one linked to a known figure, draws people in. The result is an experience that feels personalized and enjoyable rather than cold or mechanical.
3. Provides Context and Comfort: Familiar voices or personalities immediately establish a sense of connection. This is particularly important in applications like education, entertainment, and wellness, where trust and relatability are key.
4. Adds Memorability: When AI agents reflect the nuances of a real-world personality, they’re more likely to stick in users’ minds and foster repeat interactions.

What is the role of real-world talent in AI design?

When AI is infused with a recognizable personality or tied to a real-world figure, it transcends its role as a mere tool. Consider the difference between interacting with a generic, monotone virtual assistant and an AI guide voiced by a beloved actor or expert in their field. The latter doesn’t just deliver information—it creates an engaging experience. By collaborating with real-world talent, we can design AI agents that feel authentic and relatable. This combines the strengths of AI’s vast knowledge with the emotional resonance of a human touch.

How to Build Personality with Real-World Talent

1. Select the Right Talent: The talent should align with the purpose of the AI. A fitness app, for example, could benefit from the guidance of a well-known trainer, while a history app might thrive with the voice of a seasoned historian.
2. Capture Nuance and Tone: Real-world talent brings a unique cadence, humor, and style of speaking. By mimicking these elements, AI can deliver outputs that feel true to the personality it represents.
3. Incorporate Backstory and Expertise: Beyond the voice, the AI should reflect the talent’s expertise and personality. If the talent is an actor known for wit, the AI’s responses should mirror that. If the talent is a scientist, the AI should embody their curiosity and depth of knowledge.
4. Ensure Ethical Use: Collaboration with talent requires thoughtful agreements around licensing, IP, and representation. It’s crucial to respect the individual’s image and voice to avoid misuse.

How can AI build human connections?

While personality and familiarity enhance the experience, they’re just one piece of the AI puzzle. True connection is built when the AI feels like it understands and responds in ways that resonate deeply with users. This includes:

• Adapting to User Preferences: AI agents should learn from user interactions to deliver increasingly personalized and relevant outputs.
• Expressing Empathy: Whether addressing a frustrated customer or guiding a user through a challenging topic, empathy makes AI feel more like a collaborator than a tool.
• Providing Value: No matter how engaging an AI agent is, it must deliver on its purpose—be it information, entertainment, or assistance.

“With Storyrabbit, we’re combining advanced AI models, real-time data, and voice synthesis to create intelligent, adaptive storytelling. Our AI-driven personas dynamically contextualize content—whether guiding exploration, onboarding employees, or delivering real-time coaching. This technology transforms static information into engaging, human-like experiences, unlocking new possibilities for personalized content delivery.

 – Miika Moilanen, Head of AI at Younite.

What’s next for building dynamic AI personalities?

Personalities are something that is fluid in real people. There are constant elements, interests, and opinions that can help shape definition and delivery of content. But people are also reactive in different ways. For example, some topics may upset people and trigger a different response than an embraced topic. 

Imagine AI agents that:

• Leverage deepfake voice technology (ethically) to allow public figures to interact dynamically with fans without overextending their availability.
• Offer customized experiences where users can select from a library of trusted voices and personalities to guide them through various tasks or topics.
• Create entirely new characters that feel as real and relatable as their human counterparts, merging fiction and reality.

To further enhance Younite’s AI personalities, this living and breathing aspect is something that we will continue to explore and experiment with.

How did Storyrabbit build personality into its AI hosts?

At Younite, we brought our AI principles to life in collaboration with Treefort Media by developing an innovative informational guide application, Storyrabbit. This app delivers location-based insights to users through engaging storytelling narratives. One of our key focuses was matching human hosts to AI personas—just as Treefort Media, an expert in podcast production, would carefully select talent for a podcast. Treefort identified well-known voices and faces to serve as relatable guides for users, blending familiarity with authenticity.

With Younite’s advanced tools, Treefort created AI personas that faithfully mirror the chosen talent, ensuring the dynamic platform offers an engaging and realistic user experience. For example, Candice DeLong, a former FBI profiler and true crime podcast host, became the face of a "True Crime Guide." Meanwhile Dominic Monaghan—renowned for his roles in The Lord of the Rings and Lost and his passion for nature and insects—was transformed into the “Wild Guide.” This thoughtful alignment of real-world expertise with AI-driven personas brings an unparalleled sense of authenticity and immersion to the application.

Unlock the power of personality and familiarity with Younite

Injecting personality into AI isn’t just about making it more engaging—it’s about creating experiences that feel deeply human. By tying these personalities to real-world talent, we can foster trust, connection, and comfort, transforming AI from a mere tool into a valued companion.

At its core, this is about breaking the perception that users are interacting with a machine. When AI feels familiar and relatable, it moves beyond functionality to become something truly transformative: a bridge between technology and humanity, powered by the best of both worlds.

If you’re interested in exploring how AI personalities can create meaningful storytelling experiences, let’s start a conversation today.