Zero to AI — Episode 11: Designing AI Personas and Panels

Welcome back to Zero to AI, the show where we talk honestly about mid career reinvention, working with AI in the real world, and building a life that actually fits.

This week, we are levelling up your assistant game.
You are going to learn how to design AI personas, and then how to put them together into a collaborative AI panel that behaves like a small expert team.

If last week was about hiring your first digital teammate, this week is about hiring a whole team of them.
Without payroll.
Without HR forms.
Without anyone stealing your lunch from the work fridge.

By the end of this episode, you will know how to:

  • Design strong, clear AI personas
  • Build a small panel that simulates collaboration
  • Run idea sessions, reviews, debates, and creative workshops
  • Get better, richer, more rounded results than you can from one assistant alone

Let’s get into it.

Part 1. What an AI Persona Actually Is

An AI persona is not a character.
It is not a gimmick.
You do not need to give them a tragic backstory or make them obsessed with sourdough.

A persona is simply a focused perspective.

It has:

  • A role
  • A strength or skill set
  • A worldview or bias
  • A way of thinking

Think of personas like lenses.
Each one looks at your challenge in a different way.

Some examples:

  • The Optimiser
    Simplifies, streamlines, and cuts waste.
  • The Contrarian
    Challenges assumptions and spots the flaws.
  • The Creative
    Thinks sideways and produces unusual ideas.
  • The Analyst
    Breaks everything into data, patterns, and structure.
  • The Customer Advocate
    Speaks from the user’s perspective.
  • The Pragmatist
    Keeps things realistic and grounded.

Each persona gives you a different angle.
When you combine them, you get perspective you cannot get alone.

Part 2. Why Use Multiple Personas Instead of One Assistant

A single assistant is good.
A team of assistants is better.

Why?

Because humans think in layers.
We approach problems from multiple points of view.
We naturally challenge ourselves, refine ideas, broaden thinking, and play devil’s advocate.

AI does not do that by default.
So you have to tell it to.

A persona panel gives you:

  • More ideas
  • Better ideas
  • Stronger reasoning
  • Built in critique
  • Well rounded decisions

Instead of one assistant giving you one answer, you get collaboration, discussion, refinement, and perspective.

You are basically recreating the energy of a good workshop… without booking a meeting room or bribing anyone with muffins.

Part 3. Designing Strong Personas (Hands On)

We are going to create personas you will actually use.

If you’re at a laptop, you can build along.
If not, the ideas will still stick.

Step 1. Pick three personas

To begin, choose three roles that complement each other:

  • A creative thinker
  • A critic or challenger
  • A practical executor

This trio gives you:

Ideas → critique → workable solution

Nice and balanced.

Step 2. Define each persona with a simple script

A persona description should be short and sharp.
Here is the template:

You are [Persona Name].
Your focus is [skill or perspective].
You always [behaviour rule].
Your job is to bring [specific value] to the panel.

Examples:

Creative Thinker

You are The Creative. Your focus is generating bold ideas.
You always push beyond obvious solutions.
Your job is to propose original, fresh directions without worrying about constraints.

The Challenger

You are The Challenger. Your focus is risk, flaws, and weak assumptions.
You always tell us what could go wrong.
Your job is to stress test ideas respectfully but firmly.

The Planner

You are The Planner. Your focus is turning ideas into steps.
You always simplify, organise, and make things doable.
Your job is to turn messy ideas into clear plans that a real person could follow.

Step 3. Store these personas

Same as Episode 10:

  • Either save them as separate chats
  • Or put all personas into a Project folder called “AI Personas”
  • Each persona gets its own chat and title, so you can reuse them

Optional Pro Tip: Using a Project to Work With Multiple Personas

Projects are a simple way to turn your personas into a little AI team you can call on any time.

Here is how to set it up:

  1. Create a Project in ChatGPT called something like “AI Personas and Panels”.
  2. Move each persona chat into this Project. For example:
    • “The Creative”
    • “The Challenger”
    • “The Planner”
  3. When you want to talk to a specific persona, open that persona’s chat inside the Project and talk to it directly in that tab.
  4. When you want to work with the whole group, create or use a main chat inside the same Project, and treat that as your “panel room” where you run your multi persona prompts.

This gives you two clear ways of working:

  • One to one, by selecting the persona’s own chat in the Project
  • Many to one, by using the main Project chat as your shared panel space

Everything lives together, stays organised, and is easy to pick up again later.

Part 4. Building Your First AI Panel

An AI panel is just a structured conversation between multiple personas.

You can run a panel in one single chat by telling ChatGPT:

“Run a panel using these personas…”

Or you can build a custom GPT called “AI Panel Room”.

But let’s do the simple version first.

Step 1. Open a new chat

Step 2. Paste this whole block

You are running an AI expert panel.
The panel includes:

  1. The Creative
  2. The Challenger
  3. The Planner

For every task I give you:

Step 1: Each persona gives their view separately.
Step 2: The panel debates and refines the ideas.
Step 3: Provide a combined output that reflects the best of the panel.
Step 4: Ask me if I want further refinement, a different angle, or more ideas.

Keep the voices distinct and the responses organised.

Press Enter.

The panel will introduce itself and wait for your topic.

Step 3. Give it something real to work on

Examples:

  • “Help me design a simple offer for my consultancy.”
  • “I want three ideas for a podcast episode.”
  • “I need a solution for my chaotic weekly schedule.”
  • “How should I approach my LinkedIn content next month”

Watch the magic.

You get creative ideas, critique, a realistic plan, and a final combined recommendation.

Part 5. When To Use a Panel Instead of One Assistant

Panels are perfect for tasks like:

  • Idea generation
  • Strategy
  • Content planning
  • Offer design
  • Product development
  • Decision making
  • Assessing options
  • Risk analysis
  • Brainstorming
  • Solving complex messes

They are not ideal for:

  • Quick summaries
  • Short tasks
  • Email rewrites
  • Admin work

Use panels for thinking.
Use assistants for doing.

Part 6. Running a Panel in Gemini or Claude

Gemini and Claude do not have a native “panel” feature, but you can mimic it easily.

In Gemini

Say:

“Simulate three personas: the Creative, the Challenger, and the Planner.
Each responds separately, then they debate, then provide a combined answer.”

Gemini will happily follow the choreography.

In Claude

Claude is excellent at persona switching.

Say:

“Take on three personas. Respond in sections. Then combine the best ideas.”

It does it naturally.

Part 7. Advanced Panel Options (When You’re Ready)

Once your basic trio works, you can expand to:

  • A Customer Advocate
  • A Risk Analyst
  • A CEO
  • A CFO
  • A Data Scientist
  • A Coach
  • A Therapist (yes, for burnout planning)
  • A Marketing Strategist
  • A Sales Specialist
  • A Systems Thinker

You do not need ten personas in one room.
But two to five can be very powerful.

You can even create:

Panels inside Panels.
Like nested expert groups.

This is when people start saying things like “AI changed my productivity forever” and they are not being dramatic.

Part 8. Combining Personas With Last Week’s Assistants

Your assistants from Episode 10 were:

  • Helpers
  • Doers
  • Executors
  • Support roles

Your personas in Episode 11 are:

  • Thinkers
  • Critics
  • Creators
  • Strategists

Putting them together is where this gets fun.

A simple flow:

  1. Panel generates ideas
  2. Your Assistant turns those ideas into plans
  3. Another Assistant produces the content, scripts, or documents
  4. You just review

This is real leverage.
This is where your workload starts shrinking.
This is where AI stops being a novelty and starts becoming a system.

Part 9. Your Homework

Here is your practical task for this week.

Step 1. Build three personas

Use templates from this episode.

Step 2. Save each persona

Rename the chats.
Move them into a Project folder called “AI Personas”.

Step 3. Build a simple panel

Use the panel prompt I gave you.

Step 4. Give the panel a real challenge

Something you genuinely need help with this week.

Step 5. Feed the output into one of your assistants from Episode 10

This connects the dots.

This is the moment where AI shifts from being a single tool to a collaborative environment.

Closing

Designing AI personas and running panels is one of the fastest paths to better thinking, clearer solutions, and more creative ideas.

You are not creating fictional characters.
You are creating structured perspectives that help you think.

You are not adding complexity.
You are adding clarity.

Start small.
Build three personas.
Run your first panel.
Then connect it to your assistants.

This has been Episode 11 of Zero to AI.
Next week, we take this even further.