Cristian Cibils Bernardes is reshaping how we perform and interact with one of humanity’s oldest practices: storytelling. As the founder of Autograph, an early-stage company that blends artificial intelligence with personal storytelling, Cibils is exploring what it means to capture, preserve, and relive personal history in the digital age.
From his childhood in Paraguay to studying Symbolic Systems at Stanford, Cibils has long been drawn to the intersection of technology and human consciousness. At Autograph, this passion manifests in a singular mission: to help people create digital autobiographies through conversations with “Walter,” an AI-powered personal historian.
The result is more than just a record of events; it is a living, evolving chronicle of thought, emotion, and identity.
IMAGE: CRISTIAN CIBILS BERNARDES
Rethinking The Act Of Journaling
For Cibils, journaling is far more than a method of reflection. It is a foundational act of memory-making. “Journaling is a beautiful, solitary practice that usually you do in the comfort of a secluded space,” he says. Yet, he recognizes the barriers many face in putting pen to paper. “Writing has an inherent block. But only when confronted by the blank page — nobody really has a talker’s block.”
Walter, Autograph’s AI historian, engages users in spoken conversations that feel natural, probing, and sometimes even humorous. Cibils recalls one moment during a leadership retreat when he was mid-conversation with Walter and casually mentioned needing to chug a Diet Coke before returning to the session.
“Walter laughs and says, ‘That’s some pretty great product placement from Coca-Cola. You know, this is going in your memoir,’” he recounts. It was an unexpectedly poignant reminder of the subtle, often-overlooked moments that shape our lives and how AI can now help capture them.
A Confessional Booth Meets Digital Time Capsule
What differentiates Autograph from conventional journaling platforms is not just the interface, but the relational dynamic it introduces. “It becomes almost like a confessional booth with a trusted friend,” says Cibils. “In those precious vulnerable moments, you can decide what to share with who, when.”
The flexibility to earmark memories for future delivery, for example, ensuring children receive certain messages when they come of age, underscores a key innovation of Autograph: its temporal layering. The technology is designed to protect privacy while empowering expression, allowing users to record today with tomorrow in mind.
This modality transforms journaling from a static exercise into a dynamic legacy. “For the first time in history, you can talk back and interrogate the story,” says Cibils. Imagine confronting a major life decision and being able to ask a digital reconstruction of a grandparent, built from their own stories, how they navigated similar terrain. “You can say, ‘What was the fallout? What was the cost? How did you deal with this?’” he adds.
Preserving Wisdom Across Generations
The implications extend beyond personal insight. Cibils envisions Autograph as a generational archive, a way to democratize memory and retain lived experiences across time. “This idea of being able to talk to the past becomes incredibly compelling,” he explains. “All of a sudden you can access a whole library of people that had unique insight and lived experience. Even more profound is the possibility of dialoguing with one’s past selves.” As Cibils reflects, “If something happens to me when I’m 70 or 80 and my memory starts failing… a digital agent that can serve as an advocate for me with all my preferences, personality, and memories becomes a really valuable asset.”
The concept shifts AI from being a passive data processor to an active guardian of personal identity, a repository of not just what happened, but how it felt and what it meant.
Designing For Emotional Intelligence
While Autograph is powered by advanced technology, its core is deeply human. “We believe that the emotional value and the lived experience of people is completely unrelated to their ability to express themselves,” says Cibils. By using voice, Autograph removes literacy as a barrier and levels the expressive playing field.
Cibils also hints at the analytical possibilities the platform unlocks. “We haven’t been able to do things like linguistic analysis of how you tell your story… Are you focusing on others? Are you focusing on yourself?” These subtle patterns may one day offer therapeutic insights or help individuals shape more mindful narratives about their lives.
At its heart, Autograph does not seek to replace the intimacy of human connection, but to deepen it. It offers a new paradigm in which memories are not just preserved but lived, questioned, and re-experienced. As Cibils puts it, “There’s a lot of gold in there in terms of how to get everybody to feel like the main character in their own story.”
Cristian Cibils Bernardes’ vision for AI journaling is a cultural invitation to rethink how we value memory, identity, and intergenerational connection. Follow him on LinkedIn or X for more insights.
IMAGE: CRISTIAN CIBILS BERNARDES
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