The request
Learners want more room to respond
In Google’s CHI 2024 case study of VR inclusion training, participants asked for more agency, more conversational turns and more options for what to do next.
Branching scenarios
A script your experts sign off
Every line a character says is written and reviewed before anyone puts on the headset.
What a branch gives you
Each choice leads to a scene your subject experts approved, so every learner meets reviewed material and the facilitator knows what each path covers in the debrief.
Mater Education staff practised feedback conversations this way, in a branched recreation of real hospital rooms.
Where a branch needs care
The CHI authors call deeper scenarios the hardest area to improve, because every new way to respond means more branches to write.
AI characters
A partner who answers in its own words
A generative AI character replies to whatever the learner says, so the conversation goes where the learner takes it.
What an AI character gives you
More turns and more ways in, without writing each branch. PTR runs this as AI roleplay: a briefing, a live conversation, structured review against set criteria, then the same scenario again.
Where an AI character needs care
The CHI authors call AI characters for training unproven, needing strong guardrails so replies meet the learning objective and never turn offensive in a sensitive conversation.
NIST’s Generative AI Profile names the same risks: confident answers that are false, and harmful content.
How PTR sets the boundaries
Each roleplay is grounded in the organisation’s own policy and practice and runs within configurable guardrails, with human oversight and a clear path back to a person.
Choosing
Match the method to the moment
A branch where the words must be exact; an AI partner where practice needs volume.
When a branching scenario fits
The wording matters, as in a disclosure, a formal notice or a clinical handover. Assessment needs every learner to meet the same situation. The topic is sensitive enough that every reply should be reviewed first.
When an AI character fits
Learners need many attempts at an open conversation, such as feedback, a complaint or a first meeting, on a laptop or phone between sessions, with a facilitator reviewing the attempts.
Together
Rehearse the moment, then keep practising
A scripted scene in a VR headset for the moment itself, an AI partner for repeated practice, and a facilitator for the debrief.
Questions
What training leads ask first
Harm, assessment and equipment, settled before a method is chosen.
Can an AI character say something harmful?
It can. Guardrails lower the risk without removing it, so PTR grounds each character in approved material and keeps a person reviewing the practice.
Which suits assessment better?
A branching scenario: its paths are written in advance, so each attempt can be assessed against criteria agreed before training starts.
Do learners need a headset?
AI roleplay runs on a laptop or phone; immersive VR uses a headset. See choosing the right technology.
- AI roleplay training
- Immersive training and roleplay
- The Google CHI 2024 study
- What is virtual reality?
Choosing how your team will practise?
Sources
The paper and the risk framework, on their own sites.
Leveraging Virtual Reality to Enhance Diversity and Inclusion Training at Google
Scenario depth, and the proposed use of AI characters.
Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework: Generative Artificial Intelligence Profile
The risks a generative character must be guarded against.
