Your AInsights: Executive-level insights on the latest in generative AI…

You may know Reid Hoffman as the co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn. He’s also a prolific investor and author, writing a book with my friend Chris Yeh, one I refer a lot to founders, Blitzscaling.

Hoffman recently recorded an interview with Reid AI, his digital twin, and it is wild! It’s innovative while also blurring the line between fantastical and the uncanny valley.

Like ChatGPT itself, Reid AI was trained on a large language model (LLM), but instead focused on Reid’s writings, speeches, interviews, podcasts, appearances, and books. Reid AI’s digital brain is not only trained on his work, but also his mannerisms, voice, conversational style, and appearance.

There’s even an awkward moment when Reid AI wipes his nose and then proceeds to wipe his hand on the table. And at times, Reid AI appears to breathe!

Hour One developed the regenerative AI models for the video and 11ElevenLabs worked on the audio.

“I think these avatars,” writes Hoffman, “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.”

More so, digital twins offer the ability to teach or mentor others, or to provide a virtual legacy for personalities to engage future generations . Just a couple of years ago, Soul Machines created a digital twin of golf legend Jack Nicklaus (aka the Golden Bear) to interact with fans or even offer advice to budding golfers.

At the same time, there are causes for concern as AI deepfakes have defrauded a bank for $25 million and most recently, a South Korean woman was scammed for $50k to a fake digital twin of Elon Musk.

While both incredible and controversial, this technology is inevitable however, and at some point in the near future, we’ll have the ability to create digital twins of our loved ones much in the same way. For this reason, future generations will learn to capture the work, words, and all creations to thoroughly train models to best represent those they care about.

Also consider creating virtual markets populated with digital twins of customers and aspirational prospects. The opportunity to sample marketing or service concepts, test market PoCs, experiment with customer and employee journeys, or assess competitive products.

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The significance of Reid Hoffman interviewing his AI-generated digital twin demonstrates how far we’ve come in the evolution of generative AI and its ability to recreate someone as an avatar in ways that could be indistinguishable from the real person…or from a real person.

In this case, Hoffman and team can test the capabilities of the AI system and how closely it can mirror his own thinking, behaviors, and responses. By challenging the AI with questions on topics like “blitzscaling” and AI regulation, Hoffman is evaluating how well the AI can formulate answers in a way that aligns with his own perspectives and communication style. It gets close, but it will also only get better.

The interview also provides Hoffman, and the rest of us, the opportunity to explore the ethical considerations around AI and deepfakes. He acknowledges the risks and dangers of this technology, while also recognizing its potential benefits.

By engaging with his AI twin, Hoffman is gaining firsthand experience on how this technology could disrupt and challenge individuals, including public figures like himself. This hands-on experiment likely informs his views on how to responsibly develop and regulate AI systems going forward.

The video also demonstrates the awareness and literacy we all need in being mindful of what’s real and what’s not. Additionally, it’s a call to tech companies to regulate their own tech and also develop tools to help the rest of the world identify deepfakes and potential bad actors

Enjoy the interview below!

Well, this is your latest AInsights on digital twins, deepfakes, and the crazy new world we’re living in. See you next time!

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