Voices of History
History, close enough to talk to.
Voices of History is an AI history company founded in 2026 by Jonah Aden and Josh Hegstad, two Columbia students in New York. It makes DebateHero, a history debate game, and Awaken History, an education product. Every figure is built from what that person actually wrote and said, and it tells you when the record runs out.
Why we exist
For most of us, history sits behind a veil: a plaque, a paragraph, a face on a bill. The people who built the world we live in are kept at a distance, and we hardly notice it, because we have never known it any other way.
We are here to close that distance, and to make meeting a historical figure as easy as asking a question, starting a conversation, or putting great minds from different eras in conversation with each other.
Read the full mission →What we do
Four places to meet the past.
Awaken History
Educators & students
Turn a reading assignment into an interview with the person who lived it.
Explore →
DebateHero
Players
Argue history's sharpest minds, and get scored.
Explore →Exhibits
Museums & institutions
Let visitors step past the photos and walls of text to ask their own question.
Explore →Studio
Creators & storytellers
Put historical figures in your videos, podcasts, and posts.
Explore →How we work
The standard of accuracy we hold most dear.
- True to the text
- Every figure is built from a large corpus of what they actually wrote, said, and published, and that corpus is drawn on for every answer and every critique. Their responses are source linked as you talk, so you can trace any claim straight back to the record. This is the thing that separates us from asking a generic chatbot to act like a historical figure.
- One on one, at your pace
- A lecture hall, a museum, a phone on the bus, or a video you are making. Wherever you meet a figure, you learn one on one and at your own pace, in the mood you are already in. This is the most human path toward learning there is, and it works for one student or a whole class.
- Made for everyone
- History belongs to everyone, not only those who have already spent years studying it. If you can hold a conversation, you can learn from the greats of the past, whether you are a fourth grader or a professor, curious or skeptical.
Supported by
We have an ElevenLabs Grant, and startup credits from PostHog and Sentry. They go on how our figures sound, what people do with them, and what breaks. Read the announcements →
BLOGS
Notes on meeting the past.
We're in PostHog for Startups
PostHog put us in their startup program. Here's what it comes with and what we're using it for.
Read → 1 minWe're in Sentry for Startups
Sentry gave us startup credits. Here's what it is and where it goes.
Read → 1 minWe got an ElevenLabs Grant
ElevenLabs gave us a startup grant. Here's what it is and what we're using it for.
Read → 1 minQuestions
What people ask about us.
- What is Voices of History?
- Voices of History is an AI history company. We build conversations with historical figures that are grounded in what each person wrote and said, and we put them into two products: DebateHero, a debate game, and Awaken History, an education product. Jonah Aden and Josh Hegstad founded the company in 2026, and it's based in New York.
- Is this the Voices of History veterans channel and podcast?
- No. The Voices of History channel and podcast where documentary filmmaker Larry Cappetto shares first hand accounts from military veterans is a separate project, and we have no connection to it. Those are real veterans telling their own stories, which is a different thing from what we build. We are an AI history company, we make DebateHero and Awaken History, and our site is voicesofhistory.co.
- What products does Voices of History make?
- Two are out today. DebateHero, at debatehero.com, is a history debate game: pick a figure, set a topic, argue it out, and a live judge scores the round. Awaken History, at awakenhistory.com, is our education product, where a student reads a short primer and then talks it through with the figure behind it. It's in pilot with courses at Columbia. Exhibits for museums and a studio for creators are in development.
- Who founded Voices of History?
- Jonah Aden, the CEO, and Josh Hegstad, the CTO. Both study computer science at Columbia. The idea came out of a study break in Butler Library during finals week, when they got to talking about who they would have dinner with if they could pick anyone from history. They incorporated Voices of History on May 5, 2026.
- Where is Voices of History based?
- New York City. Both founders are at Columbia University, and that's where the company started.
- How are the conversations grounded in sources?
- For every figure we build a large corpus out of their own quotes, speeches, letters, and writings, and that corpus is drawn on every time you ask a question. Answers come back sourced and hyperlinked as you talk, so you can trace a claim to the record it came from. Ask about something outside that record and the figure tells you it doesn't know instead of guessing.
- Read the accuracy standard →
- Am I talking to the real person?
- No. Each figure is an AI model grounded in that person's documented words. The positions it takes trace back to the record, but the sentences are new and any voice you hear is synthetic, so nothing a figure says should be quoted as something the real person said.
- How do I contact or partner with Voices of History?
- Email founders@voicesofhistory.co. We work with museums and historic sites, educators running a class, creators making videos or podcasts, and press. The contact page has a path for each, and the press page has our boilerplate, founder bios, and logos.
- Go to the press page →
Help us close the distance.
Whether you run a museum, teach a class, make things for an audience, or just love this stuff, we'd like to hear from you.