Building AI Products with Emotion and Purpose in the Age of Automation with Cristian Sibbles

In this episode of Open Tech Talks, host Kashif Manzoor speaks with Cristian Sibbles, founder of Autograph AI, a groundbreaking platform that transforms personal memories into digital legacies using Generative AI and Voice AI. Cristian shares how Autograph’s virtual interviewer “Walter” calls users weekly to record their life stories, transforming them into searchable biographies and AI-powered avatars that preserve family wisdom for future generations.

From his roots in Paraguay to studying Artificial Intelligence at Stanford and working at Google, Cristian’s journey reveals how technology, storytelling, and emotion can converge to build products that outlive trends. The discussion invovlved into AI-driven memory preservation, the technical architecture of voice-based agents, and Cristian’s rapid MVP-to-market strategy, which went viral across nine countries.

Listeners will learn practical insights on building AI startups with emotional purpose, designing AI-first workflows, mastering iteration velocity, and leveraging Generative AI tools to solve real human problems. This episode is a must-listen for founders, engineers, and innovators exploring how AI can amplify human stories rather than replace them.

Episode # 169

Today’s Guest: Cristian Cibils Bernardes, Founder & CEO, Autograph

Cristian Cibils Bernardes is the founder and CEO of Autograph, the company behind Walter, the world's first AI Historian. Walter functions as a journal, prompting users to document their life stories once a week. Cristian studied Symbolic Systems with a focus on Artificial Intelligence at Stanford, worked as a Software Engineer at Google, and was a Partner at Cibersons.

• Website: Autograph

What Listeners Will Learn:

• Cristian’s personal story of growing up in a tech-driven family, studying AI at Stanford, and transitioning from Google engineer to founder.
• How Autograph integrates telephony, scheduling, and generative models to facilitate lifelike conversations.
• Insights on MVP development speed from idea to working prototype in one week, and to live beta in under four months.
• The importance of iteration velocity, AI-first thinking, and design thinking in modern product building.
• The emerging market for AI-driven memory preservation addresses the issues of loneliness and social connection in an aging population.
• Key lessons for GenAI founders, identifying human-centric problems, staying ahead of AI commoditization, and building products that last beyond technological hype.
• Why unstructured, emotional data, not structured enterprise data, may define the next generation of AI experiences.

• Autograph