“Digital twins” of people can not only emulate them in video and audio, but also capture some part of their knowledge and perspectives.
The impact will be massive across many aspects of society. But it is particularly pointed for executives, as the demand for their time, attention, and insights is vastly greater than the availability.
This diagram maps out the concept, some of the high level implications, a few examples, an outline process for creating a digital twin, and the major software platforms being used to create them.
Concept
A digital twin is a multimodal AI replica of an executive’s knowledge, voice, likeness and decision logic. Trained on personal artefacts (e-mails, speeches, interviews, video, meeting transcripts), it can chat, write, appear on video or even attend meetings, effectively “scaling” the leader’s presence across time zones and channels.
Strategic Implications
Infinite Reach
The twin engages customers, investors, and staff across web chat, Slack, WhatsApp, and Zoom in any language, multiplying executive presence without extra travel.
Leadership Accelerator
Encoded decisions and stories turn the twin into an on-demand mentor that coaches new managers and propagates culture company-wide.
Message Lockstep
A single vetted corpus generates every memo, post, and Q&A, keeping brand voice uniform while freeing the human for high-stakes judgment.
Authenticity Gap
Tone drift or hallucinated answers can blur the line between avatar and person, eroding stakeholder trust if not tightly policed.
Liability Hot-Zone
Rogue outputs or leaked data expose privacy, IP, and regulatory risks, making guardrails, red-team tests, and human overrides mandatory.
Examples
Sebastian Siemiatkowski – Klarna
AI avatar delivered Q1 2025 earnings call.
Keith Rabois – Khosla Ventures
Public Delphi chatbot of his investment advice.
Iliana Oris Valiente – Accenture Canada
“Lalita” attends meetings and handles routine requests.
Reid Hoffman – Greylock
“ReidAI” interactive avatar trained on 20 years of content.
Process
Establish Scope
Define the twin’s purpose, target audiences, and measurable success criteria.
Capture Data
Gather authorised emails, documents, audio, and video, ensuring legal and privacy permissions.
Select Architecture
Choose a turnkey twin platform or build your own LLM + RAG stack to match intended scale, control, and budget.
Validate Outputs
Pilot through planned channels, red-team the responses, and tune for tone, accuracy, and policy compliance.
Deploy & Iterate
Launch, monitor usage and errors, retrain with fresh data, and tighten guardrails in continuous cycles.
Digital Twin Software Examples
Avatar Creation
Knowledge Base Interaction
Get in touch
Please get in touch if you’d like to discuss how I can work with your leadership on shifting to Humans + AI structures and business models.