Do you know your digital twin? Virtually formed from a sample of blood or saliva, these virtual look-alikes will save “thousands of lives” in 2023. This technology born in the shadow of artificial intelligence and the metaverse should emerge next year, at the becoming the trend of the hour in health as well as in the fight against climate change and elsewhere.
Preparing to run a marathon is a long-term exercise. More serious runners will modify their daily routine, diet and level of physical activity several months in advance to achieve peak form on the day of the event. Every marathon runner will tell you that it is both an art and a science to arrive at the starting line in optimal conditions.
If science is predictable and calculable, the more “artistic” part of the matter is much less so. It encompasses contingencies, imponderables, intangibles that make companies of this type very uncertain. Some would say that’s also what makes them interesting: if we knew in advance who would win the race, many participants would stay at home.
Trying to tame the vagaries of an endurance race has something relatively playful about it. Especially when compared to preventing or treating epilepsy or cancer. There, planning for the unexpected is a matter of life and death—literally.
Digital twins are presenting themselves as the solution to all of this. The idea is to create a virtual copy of people that simulates their reactions to different scenarios to better prevent the effects in real life. Knowing when to pick up the pace and when to hydrate during a marathon may help smash your personal speed record. Knowing which drug and dosage will have the best effect on the development of cancer will prolong the patient’s life.
And unlike artificial intelligence, which is still slow to fulfill the promise made years ago that it would revolutionize medicine, the digital twin should do so next year. This is what the chief futurologist of the computer company TCS, Frank Diana predicts. TCS, or Tata Consulting Services, is a global technology giant headquartered in Mumbai, India. The company employs 7,000 people in Canada.
“Digital twins will save thousands of lives in 2023,” predicts the futurist. “What we will see emerging in 2023 are applications of this technology. The term “digital twin” has been around for a few years now, but we are currently seeing a great improvement in the underlying technologies that are bringing it closer to existence and transforming sectors like healthcare in particular. »
Frank Diana goes further than predicting the emergence of our digital copies. The contribution of other techniques, such as additive printing (3D), will soon make it possible to produce synthetic human organs thanks to which other applications will be created. A cosmetics company will be able to test its products virtually on synthetic skin. A surgeon will first be able to test delicate operations on a synthetic heart.
A parent could be invited by his psychologist to visit the metaverse to have a last conversation with the digital twin of his child who died in infancy. “We see cases where such an application would help the parent to better go through prolonged grief,” says Frank Diana.
In short, “digital twins will have a measurable impact on our quality of life in 2023,” he summarizes.
Health, climate, democracy…
Young shoots from home share this optimism. This is the case of the company BioTwin, which wishes to create digital twins from saliva and urine samples which will help it to predict in patients suffering from cancer or an incurable disease the evolution of their evil. In a completely different register, the 3D mapping company Jakarto is currently crisscrossing Quebec to produce a digital twin of its entire territory.
This “digital Quebec” will allow it to offer simulation tools to its potential clients, companies that will be able to reduce the logistics costs associated with the development or maintenance of their infrastructures. Think of the Hydro-Quebec electrical network, for example.
The potential of the digital twin actually goes beyond the human health niche alone, Frank Diana says. Modeling and simulating the behavior of a large number of individuals in a given urban area would, according to him, make it possible to optimize the urban planning of large cities. “In cases such as urban planning, where there are many variables to consider, it is misleading to speak of prediction, but by carrying out many simulations, we can certainly optimize our environment. »
Digital twins will save thousands of lives in 2023
More daringly, TCS still tries some rather daring predictions, precisely. “A true twin will be a representation of the human body and behavior. In 2023, such a “living” digital twin could help pollsters better predict the outcome of a vote, or marketers better tailor their campaigns. »
Cambridge Analytica’s digital twin must be eager to emerge from the shadows…
Risks and Opportunities
One of the attractions of digital twins is purely accounting: it substantially reduces the cost of developing and implementing new technologies. For example, the World Bank calculates that it would be necessary to invest approximately 5000 billion $US per year. We currently invest less than US$400 billion a year.
Its proponents believe that adopting a digital twin to tackle the climate crisis would largely close the huge gap between the investment needed to decarbonize human activity and the actual investment.
Overall, the “market” for digital twins is growing rapidly. The French firm Capgemini estimates that this sector will see its current value of US$5 billion more than double by 2027.
Capgemini immediately warns anyone salivating at the idea of virtually cloning themselves that there is a significant risk associated with this practice. A digital twin will have the same security vulnerabilities as its original model. It even adds others: its points of contact with the real world are all potential entry points for cyberattacks.
Health specialists who rely on digital technology to rid us of disease are therefore encouraged to remain cautious. Viruses and other vices also have cybernetic twins…