In an interesting move that sparked widespread curiosity, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman recently unveiled his “digital twin” – an AI-generated version of himself. Now, a journalist, Emily Chang, has interviewed this AI-generated version, highlighting the potential of AI avatars and their role in shaping the future of human interaction.
Prompted by this innovative experiment, Paytm Founder and CEO, Vijay Shekhar Sharma also reacted to this by sharing the interview on his X account and said, “So “Digital Twins” Will that a legit new term for your AI version ?”
But why did Hoffman embark on this venture? In a blog post titled “Me, myself, and (A)I: a Q&A with my AI avatar”, he revealed his motivation behind creating his digital twin. Contrary to expectations, Hoffman’s curiosity led him to explore the capabilities of AI avatars and their impact on thinking and expression.
“My latest experiment is creating an AI-generated version of myself. It’s not because I want another me—I actually thought I wouldn’t like doing this. But I was curious about testing the capabilities of a digital twin: how interacting with it might help me think differently, express myself in new ways, or connect ideas that I might not have otherwise. Since AI avatars will most certainly make a lot of people uncomfortable, I wanted to test what is possible and positive from this application of the technology,” he said in the blog post.
The video AI avatar, generated by Hour One and voiced by 11ElevenLabs, draws from Hoffman’s body of work – including books, speeches, articles, and podcasts – spanning over two decades. This amalgamation of content enables the avatar to formulate responses reflective of Hoffman’s ideas and personality.
Reflecting on the experiment, Hoffman said that these AI avatars, when built thoughtfully, have the potential to act as “mirrors to ourselves”, ones that reflect back our own ideas and personality to examine and consider.