Future Love at Nesta's FutureFest 2016
17 - 18 September 2016
London's Tobacco Docks
Digital Human Twins
Our Future Data Selves
2021 – ongoing
Digital Human Twins – our future data selves is a practice-as-research initiative exploring the development of personalised digital human twins, led by Ghislaine Boddington, Professor of Digital Creative Industries (Human Futures and Digital Identity) at the University of Greenwich.
First conceived as the practice-led research project My AI Hybird Biotwin, Ghislaine Boddington explores the potential of having a digital counterpart tethered to her being from birth, one that grows, learns, and evolves alongside her, advises and supports her, keeps her healthy and represents her around the world. A twin that could live on after her death as her digital legacy.
This project builds on Ghislaine Boddington’s four decades of academic research and public facing creative practice into the representation of self and the other in virtual and physical (hybrid) environments, a large body of futures work on the human condition and technology. This has included consultancy, multiple radio broadcasts, festival curations, public facing installations and immersion experiences, collaborations between academia and industry, writings, podcasts and knowledge exchange debates/round tables. This project continues to foster a collaborative environment that bridges academic enquiry with practical application and public engagement, advancing understanding across a range of disciplines.
These digital human twins are conceived to offer a unique blend of technological innovation and human experience, linked to AI and real-time biometrics. They push the boundaries of personal and professional development, health monitoring and identity management, while extending human presence far beyond physical limitations
"The potential of virtual entities is to represent not just
who we are, but why we are, capturing the essence of human identity in a digital format"
Ghislaine Boddington, 2024
The research for Digital Human Twins – our future data selves has been implemented using four key pillars:
Self & Identity
This pillar explores the transformative potential of digital twins in shaping and enhancing personal identity by mirroring and augmenting human characteristics. It delves into how individuals can maintain their individuality while benefiting from the continuous growth and learning capabilities of their digital counterparts.
Health & Wellbeing
Leveraging advanced technologies such as IoT, wearable devices, and AI, this pillar focussing on the revolution in the monitoring of healthcare, fitness and longevity. Digital twins can provide personalised health insights, track vital signs, and even predict potential health issues, enabling proactive and preventive healthcare management. The aim is to enhance individual health outcomes through continuous monitoring and tailored health interventions.
Education & Work
In the realm of education and professional development, digital twins offer unparalleled opportunities for personalised learning and career growth. This pillar explores how AI-powered educational tools can adapt to individual learning styles, provide customised career advice, and support continuous professional development. By creating a dynamic and responsive learning environment, digital twins can help individuals achieve their full potential in an ever-evolving job market.
Governance & Security
With data privacy and security at the forefront, this pillar focuses on establishing ethical guidelines and robust protection mechanisms for managing digital twins. It addresses critical issues such as data ownership, security and decentralised data storage, to protect and maintain the integrity of digital twins.
Vision and Future Directions
The Digital Human Twins – our future data selves project is at the forefront of exploring the integration of digital and human realms, envisioning new applications for digital twins in personal, societal and professional domains. This initiative is more than a technological endeavour; it is a visionary project that seeks to shape the future of digital-human relationships and explore identity and new concepts of self emerging from living with our digital counterparts, with the experts and with the public.
By fostering a collaborative environment, the project will continue to examine and envision new applications for digital twins, develop practical tools and frameworks for a future where digital and human identities coexist and collaborate seamlessly. The ultimate goal is to develop outputs, tangible permutations of the concepts (AR, hologram, VR) for further research and exploration and to enable interaction with wider participants and public audiences.
Ongoing research areas include (yet are not limited to)
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Avatars & Digital Presence: Avatars, holograms, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), telematic presence, digital clones, and implants.
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Digital Identity & Self-Representation: Self-portrait, digital footprint, digital identity, and personae management.
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Data Harvesting & Privacy: Psychophysiological, biometric, and intimate data collection; personal data ownership, privacy, protection, maintenance, and legacy.
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Behavioural & Psychological Impacts: Consequences of interactions with digital human twins, including emotional AI, presence, intimacy, trust, otherness and mutual theory of mind in HCI and the Singularity.
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Health & Wellbeing Applications: Medical, fitness, health and mental wellbeing uses of digital human twins.
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Arts, Entertainment & Gaming: The role of digital twins in dance and theatre, gaming, eSports, and as presenters or speakers in entertainment.
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Education & Workplace Productivity: The future of learning, teaching, and workplace productivity when supported by digital human twins.
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Ethics & Governance: Governance, regulation, protocols, codes of conduct, and guidelines at global, regional, and national levels.
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Cybersecurity & Safety: Cybersecurity concerns, surveillance, online safety, and the risks of deep fakes.
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Diversity, Inclusion & Bias: Addressing issues of diversity, inclusion, and bias in digital human twin development.
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Decentralised Data & Ethics: Decentralised data identity, Artificial Intelligence, blockchain, data unions, and data ethics/rights.
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Sustainability & Design: Sustainable systems for data storage and maintenance, and low carbon design considerations.
For more information or collaboration opportunities, please contact s.g.boddington@greenwich.ac.uk and join the dialogues as we pioneer a future where digital-human realms converge for the betterment of society.