T6 Digital doubles T6 Digital doubles What’s next? AI is enhancing quality of life for people with degenerative conditions. When Dr. Peter Scott-Morgan was diagnosed with motor neuron disease, he decided to transform himself into a cyborg. Working with a team of doctors, technologists and In the near future, we can expect people to start designing and designers, he has become a living experiment in pushing the controlling their own ecosystems, ruled by algorithms they own limits of human interaction with AI. and that serve their best interests–not those of companies. “It’s going to be very personalized, very individualized, because what A different flavor of digital twin, a new breed of “agentive you want when you go on vacation might be very different from services” is now under development, in response to concerns what I want. Your personal digital twin will know that and work for about privacy and safety combined with the complexity of you and mine works for me,” says Forrester Vice President and the modern world. AI-driven Polisis reads and digests complex Principal Analyst on Customer Experience Rick Parrish. privacy policies so people don’t have to, and NDA Lynn is an AI lawyer that will review a non-disclosure agreement for its user. The ongoing absence of true data portability has been blamed Meanwhile, Awario tracks mentions of a particular brand. for maintaining monopolies and harming workers. In turn, this has perpetuated a situation in which people generate data they As everyday services like automated banking start to combine exchange for services with social media companies, search with digital twins’ data intelligence, it’s probable that people engines, online retailers, governments or banks. Digital doubles will increasingly want everything in one place and under their will re-write this model: by doing the work with companies control. Instead of struggling to understand our personal data and serving back to the user the best solutions for them, they stored in amorphous, abstract clouds, we could keep it in our will begin to become the gatekeepers of our digital lives. digital double – the perfect mental model for our data double – and nurture it to expand its capability, Tamagotchi-style. Ultimately, your digital double should act in your interest and on your behalf in many areas of your life. Imagine it booking Organizations will need to understand digital doubles from your vacations knowing not only your preferences, but also both a business and human perspective. Google learned this your calendar and budget (not now but in the future) – saving lesson through its ongoing development of Duplex – in effect, you money, effort and anxiety while adding enjoyment and a digital double by proxy – which initially proved a confusing experience. A digital double should flip spammy product push experience for people on the receiving end, some of whom and advertising on its head, shielding you from the avalanche mistook Duplex for a spam call. Following feedback, Google has of fragmented recommendations, instead guiding you in ways announced plans to position Duplex to help people book car that fit your lifestyle and preferences, while caring for your rentals and movie tickets. wallet and the planet. Of course, this scenario is still some way off, yet we see clear steps toward it. Companies must be careful when striving to understand how people relate to their digital doubles, and how their The Data Transfer Project is the first step toward housing all existence changes the way people see themselves. The way of a person’s data in one place. By facilitating a collaboration our digital doubles are visualized will be important. If we between major technology platforms, it’s building a common see a proliferation of digital doubles based on idealized framework that will enable people to move their data between or objectified representations of people, there’s obvious two platforms seamlessly, directly, and at their own initiation. potential for negative impact on our self-image, as we saw with the airbrushing controversy a few years ago. In life sciences, digital twins are in the research phase, but will eventually be used to project, predict or validate the outcomes The critical consideration for people will be: who do I trust to of medications, surgeries and lifestyle choices. The Living Heart host my digital double? A critical consideration for organizations Project aims to repurpose advanced simulation technology will be: how can we design trust and safety in to give people used by the automotive, aerospace, energy and tech industries the confidence to choose us as their host? It will be important to analyze patients’ health and plan therapies and surgeries to design any personal digital double experience to make it – University of Auckland has developed a virtual lung with engaging, transparent and seamless. Interface and interactions similar intentions. must match the mental model – and must be simple and clear. 83 84