I read yesterday the proposal by Zoom CEO Eric Yuan to utilize AI-driven “digital twins” to participate in meetings and make decisions on our behalf (article here), and I have to say it has not happened often that I’ve been so furious at an idea. In his view, AI clones can and should handle significant interactions and decisions, but to me this would undermine the very qualities that make us human.
Our humanity is defined by our ability to experience, reflect, and act with intention. Decision-making is not a mere algorithmic process; it is an intricate dance of emotions, ethics, and personal experiences. To delegate this profoundly human activity to an AI, regardless of its sophistication, is to risk erasing the essence of what it means to be human.
I think the true promise of AI should be to liberate us from the dread of repetitive chores, not to usurp the roles that provide us with purpose and fulfilment, nor to eliminate accountability for our own decisions and actions.
I do not want to live in a world where AI is not just my assistant but my representative in critical life or professional moments. This to me would be a nightmare, far beyond ethical and philosophical questions. If my “digital twin” can converse, decide, and act on my behalf, what remains of my thinking and accountability? What remains of me, where even am I in this equation, who am I?
It might be easy to buy into this promise of AI doing all of the work so that you can do all of the fun. But the reality is that the richness of human life is derived from our direct engagement with the world, from struggles, decisions, and interactions that shape who we are. We are defined, to an extent, by our career choices, by what we do “for work”, how well we do it, how long in life we do it. These are necessary for our development as humans, and excluding that is bound to cause trouble – much like raising a child protected from germs does.
Making those decisions, being in those discussions, etc are moments that carry a lot of importance in our lives, and by outsourcing these to AI we risk becoming passive spectators in our own lives, detached from the very processes that define our humanity.
To adapt Joanna Maciejewska’s now famous tweet, I want a future where AI takes care of my laundry and dishes so that I can focus on my passions and purposes. I want AI to handle the mundane so that I can fully engage in the meaningful – and for me this includes my professional life.
The reverse – where AI fulfils our passions and purposes while we are left with mundane tasks – is a dystopia I hope not to become part of.
