It’s time to build your digital twin
#5 of my Tech Predictions for 2023
The potential for human digital twins in the metaverse is vast, from virtual work and collaboration to education, entertainment, healthcare, and therapy. 2023 will be the year where many of us start building and utilizing at least one digital interpretation of ourselves.
Digital twin technology has revolutionized the way we think about physical objects, processes, and services. A digital twin is a digital representation of a real-world entity, such as a jet engine, a wind farm, a building, or even an entire city. This technology allows engineers and developers to create virtual models of physical assets and processes, which can then be used to collect data, make simulations, and predict performance.
A digital twin is essentially a computer program that uses real-world data to create simulations that can predict how a product or process will perform in real life. With the integration of Industry 4.0, artificial intelligence, and software analytics, these virtual models have become a powerful tool for driving innovation and improving performance.
With the rise of virtual reality and metaverses, the concept of a digital twin is now being applied to individuals. A human digital twin is a virtual version of a physical person, which can be used to interact and engage with the metaverse in previously impossible ways.
Imagine being able to experience virtual worlds and simulations as if you were actually there, with the ability to interact with other avatars and objects just as you would in the real world.
Your digital twin would be able to learn from your interactions and preferences, allowing for a more personalized and immersive experience. With the ability to replicate human behavior and emotion, human digital twins can also be used to test and optimize products, services, and even public policies before their implementation in the real world.
From games to real life
Owning a digital character with specific props has been the case in the gaming world for quite a while, and the technology behind has become increasingly sophisticated. Unreal Engines platform for creating virtual humans: Metahuman is an impressive feat. Just take a look at the trailer of the upcoming game: Death Stranding 2 where metahuman has provided all the realistic persons in the game.
The tool is now open for everybody to try out. The latest version even allow you to bring in a mesh scan of yourself to create a lifelike digital stand-in.
Meta is also working on an avatar creator called Codec Avatars 2.0 showcased at Meta Connect 2022. It will allow you to scan yourself with your mobile and instantaneously create a lifelike representation to use for moving around in VR and Metaverses as yourself.
One of the challenges with Metaverse avatars is that you might end up with one in every world. Hopefully, the newly introduced Ready Player Me avatar API will solve this issue by providing an interoperability layer between metaverses.
But it´s not all just fun and games. After Covid, we have all learned to work together through digital platforms, which will continue to develop. For this purpose, we will eventually all need a 3D avatar.
I predict that we will end up having at least two personal avatars: For business, educational and serious purposes, we will own a digital double resembling ourselves as closely as possible.
And then we will own an avatar where we can play with our identity and personality — an opportunity to be somebody else for play purposes.
As the technology continues to advance, the concept of a human digital twin in the metaverse will become increasingly relevant, and it will be interesting to see how it will shape our interactions, relationships, and society in the future.
2023 will be the year when many of us start building our own online personas in 3D and start playing around with them to learn how it works.
