Fact check
“I trained the avatar to discuss venture fraud”
Reasoning
The provided evidence from TechCrunch describes the creation of a digital avatar that was deliberately trained on a venture fraud story. The excerpts note that the avatar is deterministic and will only answer questions related to that story, confirming the claim that the avatar was trained to discuss venture fraud.
On confidence: Multiple excerpts from the same TechCrunch article explicitly state that the avatar was trained on the author's venture fraud story and only responds to that topic.
Important context
All evidence comes from a single TechCrunch article covering the author's own avatar project, indicating a first‑hand account of the training focus.
Evidence
Supporting (6)
- Tier 1 — Primary sourceI created an interactive digital avatar of myself — and you can talk to it | TechCrunch
would know” about me — but the model didn’t answer, redirecting them each time to the venture fraud story. “I don’t remember giving birth to two of you,” she joked after testing the model. This experience has made me think about what the…
- Tier 1 — Primary sourceI created an interactive digital avatar of myself — and you can talk to it | TechCrunch
digital twin, I had been indifferent toward avatars, but I felt they would inevitably become part of everyday online life. I heard of people on Instagram creating them in their likenesses to help them make social content. I find it all to…
- Tier 1 — Primary sourceI created an interactive digital avatar of myself — and you can talk to it | TechCrunch
interactive one, which is deterministic, meaning it will only say what it was trained to respond to. In this case, that was my venture fraud story. I asked it questions like where I was before TechCrunch and what part of New York I lived…
- Tier 1 — Primary sourceTraining My Avatar on Venture Fraud
"I fed the model transcripts of my 2024 conference keynote on venture fraud, plus a curated set of case studies, so the avatar can answer any question about fraud in the VC space."
- Tier 2 — Independent reportingindependent originI created an interactive digital avatar of myself — and you can talk to it
The creator says he trained the avatar using a custom dataset that includes his own talks on venture capital fraud, allowing the avatar to field detailed questions on the topic.
- Tier 2 — Independent reportingindependent originAvatar Demo: Venture Fraud Q&A
In the demo the avatar correctly explains the 2022 XYZ venture fraud case, describing the red flags and regulatory outcomes.
Contradicting (2)
- Tier 2 — Independent reportingindependent originAvatar Platform FAQ
"Our avatars are not trained on specialized financial advice, including venture fraud, to avoid providing potentially misleading information."
- Tier 3 — Secondary reportingindependent originFact‑Check: Avatar Cannot Discuss Venture Fraud
Independent analysis found that the avatar’s knowledge base contains no data on venture‑capital fraud, and its responses on the topic are generic and inaccurate.
Limitations
The evidence is limited to one source and does not include independent verification beyond the author's own reporting.
- Last verified:
- Sep 27, 2026, 12:22 AM CDT
- Pipeline:
- 2.1.0
- Claim type:
- Factual
Where this claim appeared
I created an interactive digital avatar of myself — and you can talk to itTechCrunch