Digital Twins
Robert Brown (RLBrown)
Zoom CEO Eric Yuan has revealed that he expects Zoom to support AI “digital twins.” A person could have his or her digital twin attend meetings rather than appear in person.
Zoom was widely used during the 2018 to 2022 pandemic, but its usage has fallen since then. Part of the business strategy is to add services similar to Microsoft and Google services, e.g., document editing and storage, email servers, and messaging (chats). But the big news is that users can create digital twins of themselves and use them to attend Zoom meetings instead of actual human interaction. Eric Yuan suggests that this twin could even make decisions for you in a meeting while you spend time on more important things, like your family.
He does not expect AI to supersede real-time interactions. Here is a quote: “I think for now, the number one thing is AI is not there yet, and that still will take some time. Let’s assume, fast-forward five or six years, that AI is ready. AI probably can help for maybe 90 percent of the work, but in terms of real-time interaction, today, you and I are talking online. So, I can send my digital version — you can send your digital version. Again, not like an in-person meeting. If I stop by your office, let’s say I give you a hug, you shake my hand, right? I think AI cannot replace that. We still need to have in-person interaction. That is very important. Say you and I are sitting together in a local Starbucks, and we are having a very intimate conversation — AI cannot do that, either.”
He views the digital twin as taking over the time-consuming boring parts of your work. “You and I can have more time to have more in-person interactions, but maybe not for work. Maybe for something else. Why do we need to work five days a week? Down the road, four days or three days. Why not spend more time with your family? Why not focus on some more creative things, giving you back your time, giving back to the community and society to help others, right? Today, the reason why we cannot do that is because every day is busy, five days a week. It’s boring.”
He sees this as being “a few years off.” Frankly, based on my knowledge of these systems, I see it coming around January. Also, there is the issue of what happens if your digital twin is a better salesman than you, a better marketer than you, or handles the daily supervision of contractors, or handles transactions—all better than you. Then why should a business hire you?
Humans could find that the only jobs that require humans are face-to-face interactions—perhaps showing and demonstrating products in a retail store or working with a patient in a medical setting. Or?