Jobs of the future, Part Five: Identity Guard

There are two things that came up recently which made me stop and think. The first is the recreation of Elvis Presley through AI who will now perform every night in London in 2025, dead and on stage looking live; the second is a new podcast series created around Michael Parkinson, the legendary chat show host in the UK, created through AI, dead and online streaming.

There are many other examples I could think of – Frank Sinatra, Tupac and more – but the core of the debate is when you’re dead, maybe you’re not dead. AI can keep you alive and recreate you as a virtual you.

This idea has been considered for years – just see Be Right Back (Black Mirror, Series 2, Episode 1, 2013) or Transcendence (2014). In fact, the BBC aired a documentary about this whole market, which is growing rapidly. Today, we live in a world where dead people are virtually alive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSHYy3sgS30

Of course, this is all imaginary. The idea of keeping someone alive after they are dead is only possible in the imagination of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and such like, but it was interesting listening to the creators of Michael Parkinson’s new podcast. With decades of interview material, they could take any of it to develop a new show, possibly even interviewing another dead person.

The podcast claims to be a “completely unscripted conversation between a guest and an AI version of Sir Michael Parkinson”. The AI Michael Parkinson is built using “knowledge garnered from his career, including his back-catalogue of over 2000 interviews” which “enables AI Michael to converse in an authentic manner and offers podcast guests a true-to-life experience.”

The question it raises is: what are the rights of dead people today?

As evidenced by the above, our digital footprints are vast and your entire life is searchable. You can “walk through” your entire past in VR; you can rediscover forgotten moments; you can forget unpleasant ones; just as we store digital assets, we can store digital memories; digital assets rival physical assets.

The thing is that, as every person on Earth sees their digital footprints expands, who keeps your data organised, healthy and safe? Who curates the story of you? Who makes sure that the fake you are not a deep fake or scam fake?

Therefore, continuing Sophie Deen’s series around jobs of the future, we come to a new role of the Identity Guard.

The Identity Guard is there to ensure that your life and your personal information are protected during life, and in the afterlife. The role is split between three things: the Identity Manager; the Memory Designer; and the Afterlife Personality.

What does the Identity Manager do?

• Creates a way for you to delegate access your information on a ladder of access
• Reports any unapproved access by third parties to you and your digital asset managers
• Constantly reviews activities involving your digital personality
• Ensures only approved firms can access your personal details

What does the Memory Designer do?

• Organises digital footprints (emails, photos, social media, etc.) into coherent narratives
• Designs personalised “memory interfaces” for easy navigation of digital pasts
• Implements smart filters to hide or de-emphasize traumatic or unwanted memories
• Creates conditional access to memories (think digital safes)
• Curates your public-facing digital legacy

What does the Afterlife Personality do?

• Ensures your copyright of your digital profile
• Secures access to your digital profile after death to only approved agencies, e.g. those with power of attorney
• Creates a virtual you for family and friends, if access is approved
• Prosecutes any mis-use of your digital legacy, particularly if used in an inappropriate way

Both roles have challenges. For example, safeguarding privacy in a data-driven world; managing the psychological impact of the past; navigating the ethics of memory editing; balancing the right to remember vs. the right to be forgotten and more. However, the bottom-line will be that if you are not managing your digital memories and digital legacy, then someone, somewhere will seek to abuse it.

That kind of creates a security management role for financial providers. As I’ve often said, the future bank will provide digital vaults for digital assets. What better place to put them, especially if they are backed by licenses and governments?

There is so much more to this role and these discussions, particularly as it is not just one role but three of more. I’m sure I will come back to this one in future blogs.