Developing Historical Personas using LLMs - An International AI Competition for Engaging Prospective University Students

This paper presents a brief overview of a recent international competition focused on the creation of fictional historical characters using modern LLM technology. Competition entrants were able to design and create their own LLM-based personas, without the need for any prior programming skills or knowledge. This competition emphasised several contemporary LLM concepts, such as prompt engineering, hallucinations and jailbreaking, allowing entrants to explore the strengths and weaknesses of current LLM systems. The competition received submissions from over 200 prospective students, demonstrating its wide-ranging appeal and future potential.