AI persona of Edward Bernays is product of Large Language Modeling of his extensive writings and voice generation based on recordings of his voice.
NEW YORK, NJ, UNITED STATES, May 20, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — The Museum of Public Relations, the world’s only museum dedicated to the field, today announced the launch of the first-of-its-kind AI platform, enabling life-like conversations with historical figures.
The AI persona of Edward Bernays, the first to be released, is based entirely on his own writings—more than one million words in all. Agentic audio technology enables users to ask questions out loud. And generative voice technology produces responses that simulate Bernays’s voice based on PRMuseum recordings made when he was alive.
“Engaging in conversation with ‘Eddie’ is surreal. The voice and the content truly give the user a sense they are speaking with Mr. Bernays himself,” said Aimee Christian, Ph.D., Sandra Frazier Professor of Public Relations, Boston University. “My students in both International PR and AI in Practice for PR Professionals will truly be able to experience a real-world application of AI on a relevant topic. It will help them understand the historical context of some of the most pivotal PR campaigns we look to in order to inform our current thinking.”
The Bernays AI persona is the first in the PRMuseum’s “Living Archives” series. All entries in the series will be based on the pioneer’s own writings and recordings. The system does not access or retrieve contemporary data and cannot draw on information beyond the subject’s lifetime. But it can respond to hypothetical scenarios, allowing students to explore current issues from the subject’s perspective.
“Ask Eddie” was developed in partnership with Edelman, using AI modeling techniques informed by its Archie AI Personas methodology, which organizes and prepares material for AI training, defines tone and behavioral characteristics, and applies guardrails and quality checks to the platform’s output.
“None of this would have been possible without the agreement and support of the Bernays family,” PRMuseum CEO Shelley Spector said, “We are proud to preserve their father’s and grandfather’s legacy in such a profoundly personal and immersive way.”
Because the PRMuseum believes “Ask Eddie” will have broad application in college public relations programs, it has prepared a teacher’s guide to help steer student use, suggest topics of inquiry, recommend potential assignments, and stimulate classroom discussion.
“Having a conversation with the Bernays AI, which is informed by his writings and recordings, is as close as we can get to speaking with Bernays himself,” said Anthony D’Angelo, APR, Fellow PRSA, chair of the Public Relations Department at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications. “My students and I are now able to delve into topics we always wanted to better understand, especially some of the more controversial campaigns, and appreciate them in their historical context.”
While the technology was created primarily for PR and Communications students, students and scholars in many other disciplines—such as history, political science, social science, and American studies—may find it offers relevant case studies from history. PR practitioners may also find Bernays’s own experiences relevant in campaign development, market research, and crisis communication.
What Makes the Bernays Project Distinctive
What sets the PR Museum’s project apart is the combination of three things working together:
1. a domain-specific LLM trained on a rich archive of that person’s actual words, writings, audio, and video;
2. a cloned voice that authentically reproduces how he sounded; and
3. generative, open-ended conversation rather than pre-recorded response matching. Most existing projects do one or two of these, but not all three for a specific historical professional figure. The field is moving fast — this is genuinely frontier territory, and the PR Museum appears to be among the first to deploy this combination in a professional/institutional context.
Shelley Spector
Museum of PR
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