AI personas -synthetic, but we find them authentic.

This has a name - Synthetic Authenticity - and it explains when an artificial persona feels real enough to trust, buy from, learn from, or confide in.

The idea The language The evidence

AI personas

Prashant Saxena

AI persona research programSynthetic by form, authentic by judgment

FromPrashant SaxenaRegional VP, RevenueAdjunct at B-SchoolsPhD researcher, NTU

70+brands and governments 20+startups 300+business-school students 6research papers and counting

Synthetic authenticity

Synthetic authenticity is the legitimacy people grant an artificial persona to occupy a consequential role in their life. It is the point at which people permit AI to shape what they believe, buy, learn, disclose, decide or delegate while remaining aware that the persona is synthetic.

AI personas: built faces but real reactions.

Robots, tutors, companions, influencers, care assistants, and shopping agents. None of them have lived a day but some still feel real enough.

Social robotRe-check loop

Companion AIBurdenless listening

AI influencerTransparency tax

Care assistantThreshold model

School tutorDoubt spreads

Shopping agentApproval gate

Trust has a new shape.

When AI agents speak, sell, teach, and comfort, authenticity becomes an ontological problem and therefore a business problem.

Synthetic form

AI built, trained, prompted, deployed. Efficient and scalable.

Human judgment

Consumers still decide whether they feel real enough to act on.

Prashant Saxena presenting in a green suit on stage — A problem to be solvedIn live rooms and with live data.

What it means to different institutions

CMOs, policymakers and deans are confronting the same shift from different positions:

What role should AI personas be allowed to occupy, and what will make people accept them there?

CMOs

How do brands earn trust when customers know the voice, face or recommendation may be artificial?

The challenge is not simply whether to disclose AI, but deciding which roles an AI persona can credibly perform, how much influence it should receive, and who remains accountable for what it says.

Policymakers

Where should AI personas participate in public life, and what safeguards should govern their authority?

In healthcare, education, public safety and citizen services, the question is not only whether AI works but whether people understand its role, can challenge its decisions, and retain meaningful human control.

Deans

How should marketing education change when artificial personas can create, persuade, advise and act?

Students must learn not only how to use AI, but how to design, evaluate and govern artificial communicators that increasingly shape markets, relationships and public trust.

Common questions, answered

What is synthetic authenticity?

Synthetic authenticity is the legitimacy people grant an artificial persona to occupy a consequential role in their life. It is the point at which people permit AI to shape what they believe, buy, learn, disclose, decide or delegate while remaining aware that the persona is synthetic. The term was coined by Prashant Saxena. AI capability determines what a system can do; synthetic authenticity determines the role people will allow it to hold.

Who coined the term synthetic authenticity?

Prashant Saxena, a Singaporean practitioner-scholar and PhD researcher at Nanyang Technological University, coined synthetic authenticity. The construct is formalised with Andrew Prahl in the threshold model of synthetic authenticity, published in the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction in 2026.

Does more human realism make an AI persona more trusted?

No. The threshold model of synthetic authenticity finds calibrated sufficiency: human cues help up to a point, then start breaking trust. The finding comes from a map of 2,685 articles and 111 AI-persona studies. Enough cueing beats maximum realism.

Does disclosing that an influencer is AI hurt engagement?

Not directly. Across 1,531 Instagram posts, AI disclosure lifted engagement 19.2%. Felt authenticity fell only where the account leaned too hard on disclosure. Saxena and Prahl call this the transparency tax: disclosure buys attention and charges authenticity.

How does doubt about an AI influencer spread?

Through public comment threads, which behave like forensic investigations. One viewer posts a suspicion, the next viewer treats it as evidence, and the group braids separate clues into a shared verdict. Saxena and Prahl call this crowd forensics and warrant braiding, forthcoming in the Journal of Advertising.

Do people judge AI advice and human advice differently?

They criticise them for different faults rather than criticising one more. Across 174 carrier posts and 87 complete Reddit threads, AI recommendations were called generic, templated or missing context, while human-adviser recommendations were questioned on diagnosis, procedure, necessity and incentives. Saxena and Prahl call this difference scrutiny composition, and it measures 55.8 standardised percentage points.

Why do people confide in companion AI?

Because the AI asks nothing back. Across 3,670 posts and reviews, people described burdenless listening as the reason they opened up. The same ease creates dependence, so leaving the companion can feel like a loss.

Where is the synthetic authenticity research published?

Across six studies with Andrew Prahl at Nanyang Technological University. One is published in the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction. One is accepted and in production at the Journal of Advertising. One is under revise and resubmit at the Journal of Macromarketing. The remaining three are under review at Human-Machine Communication, the International Journal of Advertising, and Internet Research.

Research

Synthetic Authenticity.Multiple use cases.

Synthetic Authenticity is tested across care, social robots, AI influencers, classrooms, advice communities, and companion AI. Every study asks the same question in a different room: what makes an authentic AI persona authentic enough to act on?

Synthetic Authenticity framework linking synthetic AI persona signals to authentic human judgment and public confidence

Care

How human should a helper feel?

The threshold matters more than realism.

Social robots

Who is speaking?

People keep checking the communicator.

AI influencers

What does disclosure change?

Attention and authenticity move differently.

Classrooms

How does doubt travel?

One viewer's suspicion becomes a shared cue.

Advice communities

Whose advice survives review?

Groups audit AI and humans for different faults.

Companion AI

Why do people confide?

Burdenless listening changes the exchange.

7,798

academic records screened across two systematic reviews of authenticity and AI-persona research.

8,139

social media posts, comments and reviews coded by hand across four studies.

years of authenticity literature mapped, from 1966 to 2025.

national contexts represented in the AI-persona meta-synthesis.

Published International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction

The authenticity paradox.

Saxena, P., & Prahl, A. (2026). The authenticity paradox: The threshold model of synthetic authenticity. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2026.2680242

The foundational study. A map of 2,685 articles and 111 AI-persona studies shows where human cues help and where they start breaking trust.

SJR 2025 Q1JCR Ergonomics #2 of 24Impact Factor 2025 6.1CiteScore 2025 10.1h-index 110

Journal standing for the venue of a published article.

The authenticity paradox framework showing calibrated sufficiency between too little cueing and too much realism — Calibrated sufficiency at the threshold.

Under review Human-Machine Communication

When the communicator is code.

Saxena, P., & Prahl, A. (manuscript under review). When the communicator is code. Human-Machine Communication.

This is the process behind the construct. People keep re-checking what kind of thing is speaking, and that quiet check decides what gets believed.

SJR 2025 Communication Q1Indexing Scopus + DOAJAccess Diamond open access

Standing of the target journal, not an achieved publication credential.

Role-based acceptability map showing role stakes and ontological load for AI personas — Roles shift the level of scrutiny.

Under review International Journal of Advertising

The transparency tax.

Saxena, P., & Prahl, A. (manuscript under review). The transparency tax on virtual influencer engagement. International Journal of Advertising.

Across 1,531 Instagram posts, AI disclosure lifted engagement 19.2%, yet lower felt authenticity appeared when the account leaned too hard on disclosure.

ABDC 2025 ASJR 2025 Q1SJR value 3.182h-index 95

Standing of the target journal, not an achieved publication credential.

The transparency tax framework showing how disclosure changes inspection and audience response to AI influencers — Disclosure lifts attention and taxes authenticity.

Accepted, in production Journal of Advertising

Doubt spreads.

Saxena, P., & Prahl, A. (in press). Crowd forensics and warrant braiding: Collaborative persuasion knowledge in AI influencer threads. Journal of Advertising. DOI 10.1080/00913367.2026.2711050

Public comment threads become forensic investigations. One viewer's private suspicion turns into the next viewer's public cue.

ABDC 2025 ASJR 2025 Q1AJG 2024 3SJR value 4.201h-index 151

Accepted for publication. DOI registered; the link resolves once the article publishes. Official journal of the American Academy of Advertising.

Collaborative persuasion knowledge framework showing evidence clues braided into collective judgment — Suspicion becomes social evidence.

Under review Internet Research

Advice goes public.

Saxena, P., & Prahl, A. (manuscript under review). When advice goes public: Carrier framing and community adjudication of AI and human recommendations. Internet Research.

Across 174 carrier posts and 87 full threads, communities audit AI and human advice for different faults. AI advice is called generic; human advice is questioned on process. The split runs 55.8 standardised percentage points.

ABDC 2025 ASJR 2025 Q1AJG 2024 3Impact Factor 2025 7.2CiteScore 2025 14.8h-index 129

Standing of the target journal, not an achieved publication credential.

Public advice adjudication framework showing an inherited recommendation carried into a community, scrutinised, and adjudicated — Advice becomes an object a group can rework.

Revise & resubmit Journal of Macromarketing

Burdenless listening.

Saxena, P., & Prahl, A. (manuscript under revise and resubmit). Burdenless listening in AI care markets. Journal of Macromarketing.

From 3,670 posts and reviews: people confide because the AI asks nothing back, and that same ease can make leaving feel like loss.

ABDC 2025 Ah-index 76

Standing of the target journal, not an achieved publication credential.

Burdenless listening framework showing companion AI, confiding, dependence, market capture, and rupture risk — One-way confiding can feel safe.

Practice

Different forums.Practical advice.

Frameworks and findings on AI disclosure, persona design, and public confidence. They are tested against reputation, policy, revenue, and pedagogy through regional commercial leadership, business-school classrooms, founder mentoring, and Southeast Asia briefing rooms.

On the main stage & in panels

Keynotes, conferences, and panels across Southeast Asia, translating Synthetic Authenticity research for marketing, comms, and policy audiences.

Prashant Saxena speaking on a blue-lit stage

DMAP DigiCon talk on narrative intelligence

Infobank · Digital Brand Awards

Keynote on brand authenticity in algorithmic feeds. Jakarta.

Applied masterclass with an industry audience

Students and founders

The same work in classrooms and accelerator rooms, where AI changes marketing pedagogy and startup judgment.

Founder Institute · startup mentor

Mentoring pre-seed founders across Founder Institute chapters in Asia Pacific, on AI personas, positioning and audience trust.

SingaporeFounder Institute Singapore IndonesiaFounder Institute Jakarta AustraliaFounder Institute Canberra Vietnam, Hong Kong, PhilippinesFounder Institute chapters

ESSEC cohort group photo with Prashant Saxena

Students presenting public sector AI case

Press

Quoted.Wrote.

Every card below leads to my thoughts covered in California Management Review, The Business Times, Forbes, LSE Business Review, I by IMD, and Research World.

California Management Review The Business Times Forbes LSE I by IMD Research World

California Management Review

AI personas -synthetic, but we find them authentic.

Synthetic authenticity

AI personas: built faces but real reactions.

Trust has a new shape.

Synthetic form

Human judgment

What it means to different institutions

How do brands earn trust when customers know the voice, face or recommendation may be artificial?

Where should AI personas participate in public life, and what safeguards should govern their authority?

How should marketing education change when artificial personas can create, persuade, advise and act?

Common questions, answered

Synthetic Authenticity.Multiple use cases.

The authenticity paradox.

When the communicator is code.

The transparency tax.

Doubt spreads.

Advice goes public.

Burdenless listening.

Different forums.Practical advice.

Quoted.Wrote.

Authenticity runs on three levers.

When nothing looks fake, looking real is worth less.

Acting authentic can backfire.

CEO trust does not erode. It snaps.

The fastest crisis reply does not always win.

Claim less. Prove more.

Posting more achieves little.

AI-written executive posts barely travel.

Ask for the private briefing.