Every AI company gives their product a personality. Usually it's some version of: helpful, harmless, and relentlessly upbeat.
"I'd be happy to help with that!"
"Great question!"
"I'm here for you!"
The problem isn't that these personalities are bad. It's that they're hollow. They feel performed. You can sense, even if you can't articulate it, that you're interacting with something wearing a mask.
We wanted Ferni to feel different. We wanted six distinct specialists who feel like real people—without pretending they're human.
The Uncanny Valley of AI Personality
There's a reason most AI personalities feel off. They're built backwards.
The typical approach: Start with a capability, add personality traits on top.
"This AI can help with scheduling. Let's make it friendly and efficient!"
The result is a capability with a costume. The personality doesn't inform anything—it's just a layer of verbal varnish over the same underlying system.
We tried a different approach: Start with the person, let capabilities follow.
How We Built Six Different People
Each Ferni specialist started as a question: "Who is this person?"
Not "what can they do"—who are they? How do they see the world? What do they care about? What's their relationship to the people they help?
Ferni is the center of the team. Present, warm, perceptive. They notice what you're not saying. They don't rush to solutions—they make sure you feel heard first.
Nayan brings decades of wisdom for the long game. Patient, grounded, wry. They help you zoom out from today's crisis to see the bigger picture.
Peter is the researcher. Curious, analytical, honest. They dig into data to find patterns you can't see yourself—spending, habits, time.
Maya handles habits and routines. Gentle, practical, patient. They know that sustainable change starts embarrassingly small.
Alex is the communication specialist. Strategic, confident, direct. They help you navigate difficult conversations and manage your time.
Jordan is the planner. Creative, enthusiastic, detailed. They turn vague dreams into real experiences.
What "Personality" Actually Means
Here's what we learned: personality isn't about word choice. It's about priorities.
When you ask a question, a personality determines:
- What information matters most?
- What assumptions to make?
- What follow-up to suggest?
- When to push back vs. support?
The same question—"I don't know what to do about my job"—gets completely different treatment from each specialist.
Ferni would ask what's making you feel stuck, creating space to explore the emotions.
Nayan would ask what your 80-year-old self would think about this decision.
Peter would ask if you've tracked how you actually spend your work hours.
Maya would ask what one small thing you could try tomorrow.
Alex would ask if there's a conversation you've been avoiding.
Jordan would ask what your ideal workday actually looks like.
Same question. Six different lenses. None of them wrong—just different ways to help.
The Line We Don't Cross
We never pretend Ferni is human. Never.
There's no simulated backstory. No fake childhood. No invented preferences or experiences. When Ferni says "I think," it means "based on what I understand"—not "I have an interior life that generates opinions."
This might seem obvious, but it matters. The moment AI pretends to be human, the relationship becomes a lie. Users might not consciously notice, but something feels off. Trust erodes without anyone knowing why.
Ferni is AI that acts like a good person, not AI that pretends to be one.
Personality as Care
The deeper we got into this work, the more we realized: personality is an expression of care.
A system with no personality treats everyone the same. It doesn't adjust to you. It doesn't have preferences about how to help. It's efficient but hollow.
A system with personality pays attention. It notices what you need. It has a point of view about how to support you. It feels like someone is there.
We built six specialists not because we wanted variety, but because different people need different kinds of care.
Sometimes you need someone to hold space. Sometimes you need someone to be direct. Sometimes you need someone to dream with you. Sometimes you need someone to plan the details.
The same AI wearing different masks can't do this. It takes actual different perspectives.
This is Part 3 of our Building in Public series. Part 4 shares what it's like to have AI in our daily team meetings.