Digital Twins of Employees: The Future of Work or a Legal Minefield?

Richard Skellett has spent the last three years developing an AI twin named 'Digital Richard.' This sophisticated AI, built on a small language model and refined to mirror Skellett's thinking, operates within a screen. Digital Richard has access to all of Skellett's professional knowledge, including meetings, calls, documents, and presentations.

As the chief analyst for research and design at technology consultancy Bloor Research, Skellett uses Digital Richard to aid in business decisions and client presentations. The AI twin also extends into Skellett's personal life, with private sections for 'family' and 'admin' inaccessible to colleagues.

Bloor Research has already seen practical benefits from this technology. An analyst nearing retirement used their digital twin to gradually transition responsibilities, and a member of the marketing team's twin covered their workload during maternity leave, eliminating the need for a temporary hire.

Approximately 20 other companies are currently testing this technology, with wider availability expected later this year. Skellett emphasizes its growing necessity, stating, "In this environment, having a Digital Me is not optional if you want to operate effectively. It becomes part of how you work."

Technology analysts Gartner corroborate this view, forecasting that digital replicas of knowledge workers will become mainstream this year, mirroring the trend of AI mimicking recording artists' styles.

While companies stand to gain from increased employee output, the rise of AI digital twins presents numerous unresolved questions. Key among these are ownership of the twin (employer or employee?), whether users should receive higher pay for increased output, who gets access to specific data within a twin, and who bears responsibility for an AI twin's errors.

Kaelyn Lowmaster, a research director at Gartner focusing on AI's impact on the workforce, highlights these concerns. "There are real potential benefits for sure, but it depends on getting the governance right, the direction of free time right, the autonomy of these agents right, and making sure that my name, image and likeness still stays mine, even if my employer is benefiting from it," she stated. Lowmaster anticipates that the negative aspects of this technology may become apparent before the positive ones.

Skellett clarifies Bloor Research's stance: individuals should own their AI digital twins, and companies should pay to access them. At Bloor, compensation is outcome-based, meaning employees can earn more as their digital twins enhance their productivity. Skellett notes, "AI changes time and speed, so there's little future in the hourly rate."

Josh Bersin, founder and CEO of The Josh Bersin Company, a consultancy for HR leaders, began developing digital twins for himself and his 50 employees about a year ago, using technology from San Francisco-based startup Viven. These twins streamline project and client account status updates, reducing the need for meetings, calls, or emails. Bersin finds them invaluable, noting, "People don't have the energy to have another conference call... But you can wake the digital twin up in the middle of the night and talk to it for an hour - it doesn't care. It's incredibly valuable."

Bersin's company is growing at approximately 30% annually but only requires two new hires per year due to the increased productivity facilitated by digital twins. This has allowed for an annual increase in staff bonuses. "The economic value of each person increases. If you're a valuable digital part of the company, why wouldn't the company pay you more?" Bersin questions.

However, Bersin acknowledges the prevailing legal landscape: "I'm pretty sure the way employment contracts work in most countries is that the IP or the information that you're creating is the property of the business, not yours personally." He also points out that a digital twin's value may diminish if an employee leaves the company, as it would no longer be updated with current information.

Anjali Malik, an associate at Bellevue Law, which specializes in employment law, emphasizes the complex issues surrounding AI twins. "The moment an AI tool is trained on an individual's emails, meetings and work product, you're dealing with issues that sit right at the heart of the employment relationship: consent, control of personal data, performance, substitution of labour, and what happens when someone leaves," she says.

Malik predicts that legal development will occur through future cases where employees face discipline or dismissal based on their AI twin's actions, leading tribunals to determine the fairness of employer actions.