u/CheezeDoodly

I was recently was intrigued by directional ambient occlusion, and I was wondering if it was possible to replicate the effect of bent normals using a baked ambient occlusion map? I have seen people say here and there that it is not possible as its part of the initial process of ambient occlusion, so if there is no way to produce this effect, then I completely understand!

P.S: I have done research on the topic of bent normals and came across nothing but dead ends - I have mostly just seen software implementations and demos.