Being read stories as a child we were sold the idea of technological advancements as being a step towards a future with flying cars and gravity defying hoverboards. Instead the investments in 2026 go towards algorithms that create digital twins, this is when a virtual representation of a physical object or being uses real time data to ‘accurately’ replicate the real-world. For example this can generate deep fakes and predict our deepest anxieties and behaviours and all to report this data back to companies who use this for their own profit margins.
The ideas we have surrounded with a ‘dystopian society’ are starting to present themselves in everyday life. Why are we spending £2.2 tn on AI models when according to the UN-Habitat there are approximately 300-318m homeless in the world? In addition, in dystopian literature, society is based on totalitarianism, dehumanisation and ideas of a ‘perfect’ society. AI makes these ‘perfect scenarios’ and situations that take away human essence and autonomy.
Is there any regulation on AI and our data being used to train and craft these algorithms?
Newcastle Central’s own MP, Dame Chi Onwurah, introduced the Digital Twins Bill to the House of Commons on September 9, 2026. Under the newly proposed Bill, explicit consent would be required before a digital twin could be created. This would prohibit the use of our personal data to make these digital twins and would help to start to tackle the problems faced with digital twins.
A major problem digital twins create is severe stereotyping and bias. This is, as they often fail at predicting specific demographics and minorities. An example of this was found by Jessica Hullman at Columbia University where a twin model predicted that 97% of Hispanic adults would follow the World Cup, whereas the actual real-world figure was 43%.
Police can also use this data to run digital replica simulations on what their ‘twin’ (potentially those labelled as criminals) is predicted to do; this also creates issues that contribute to the systemic discrimination in the police force, such as racial profiling and trapping people in previous behaviours. This institutionalises unprecedented levels of surveillance, control and loss of bodily autonomy.
Some people may say experiences like the ABBA experience would be a good use of digital twins for things such as preserving history. However, in this case consent was given by the original artists, so the Digital Twins Bill wouldn’t take away this algorithm but simply would be creating an extra layer of protection.
Even with the problems created by digital twins, and the risk of this concept potentially taking us down the path of becoming a dystopian society; it is going nowhere. Rather than letting these algorithms run wild, putting protections like the ‘Digital Twins Bill’ into law now will help take control of our own data and show companies we don’t want to fall deeper into a dystopian society than we may already be in.
A great way to take this power into your own hands is to contact your local MP, tell them to support this bill so that we can have more protection!
How to find and contact your local MP can be found via this link:
https://newcastle.gov.uk/local-government/your-elected-representatives/members-parliament-mps