A phrase that’s been rising recently is digital twin.
My definition of a digital twin is not the same as others. I would define a digital twin as the digital version of you or your organisation. Over time, you build up a complete digital profile. It can be anything from the holistic version of you based on social media, or the holistic version of your organisation based upon your websites, registrations, online activities, supply chain, invoicing and so on and so forth.
That’s not a new idea. In fact, the digital twin idea was mooted twenty years ago at Sibos when my team at Innotribe floated the idea that the digital version of you could be used as a combination of a financial check and behavioural check.
Many people were looking at these things years ago. By way of example, checking your LinkedIn profile and endorsements to check you are who you say you are. Back in 2009, when attending the SIBOS tradeshow’s innotribe stream, we had this idea of digital trust, where you could build up profiles of people of any age by integrating all of their online activities.
The thing is that the digital twin’s identity proof is becoming even more imperative now.
In this world of intense criminal hacking and impersonation, how do I know your digital twin is you? It is becoming easier and easier to pretend to be a digital you or, to be more exact, to be your digital twin but controlled by me.
The challenge for all technologists is therefore how to create a digital version of you that is bulletproof and unhackable. Does that sound impossible? Well, maybe not.
Huge numbers of companies are developing solutions to ensure that a deep fake digital you can be identified as real or not. I just spoke to one the other day, and their idea is quite similar to the idea we had fifteen years ago at SIBOS. Their idea? To be a digital data broker who can build more and more credentials that proves you are you through endorsements and integration of data from governments, financial institutions, employers and any retailers or others that you deal with.
Think about it.
If I could take all the data you deal with as a digitalised person – your Amazon, eBay, Tiktok, Facebook, X, bank accounts, social security and more – through APIs and oh, keep it all confidential but present personas and aliases on-demand, when needed, as proof points … then that gets interesting.
This is a discussion we have had for years, but it is now getting real, particularly if you apply distributed ledger technology (DLT) to the mix. In other words, in a year or two, there will be a digital you online, your digital twin, and that version of you will have a watermark which shows that it is authentically you. This is not a new idea. It’s just been a difficult one to actually do. The thing is with platforms, ecosystems, apps and APIs, it’s becoming a lot easier and several firms are working this space.
Ten years from now? Well, your digital twin will probably be an AI robot in your house, and you won’t be needed at all.
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...