While most people discuss neural networks as a tool for generating images or communication, in China a much more serious trend is already forming. It is about creating AI twins of employees — systems that do not just help with work but actually reproduce the behavior, thinking style and professional skills of a specific person. This is no longer an experiment at the startup level but a real practice that companies are testing. That is why the news quickly spread through the media and caused a sharp reaction — many saw in it not the development of technology but a direct threat to jobs.
What is an AI twin of an employee in simple terms
If explained as simply as possible, an AI twin is a trained model that copies a person based on their work data. Training includes correspondence, documents, tasks, notes, and sometimes even voice messages. The output is a bot or agent that can respond like this employee, solve similar tasks and interact with other people in the company. Essentially, it is “packaged expertise” of a person that is no longer tied to them. Such systems can already work around the clock, do not get tired and do not require constant supervision, which makes them extremely attractive for business.
How it all started and why it was invented in the first place
Initially the idea seemed quite reasonable and even useful. Companies wanted to preserve the knowledge of employees who leave the team so as not to lose accumulated experience. For example, if a developer quits, their approach to solving tasks, coding style and logic remain inside the company in the form of an AI model. This allowed new employees to quickly get up to speed and reduced dependence on specific people. But quite quickly the focus shifted: instead of “preserving knowledge,” companies began to look at it as a way to replace a person, especially in routine tasks.
Where the problem begins and why it makes people tense
The main point that causes tension is that the employee themselves becomes the source of data for their own replacement. Everything they do in the course of work turns into training material for AI. As a result, the company gets a tool that can perform the same functions without salary, vacations and time restrictions. This breaks the usual model of a specialist’s value. If previously experience and uniqueness were valued, now the volume of data that can be “extracted” from a person and turned into an algorithm becomes more important. This is exactly what causes fear — a person gradually ceases to be irreplaceable.
Real cases: this is no longer theory
There are already specific examples that confirm this is not just an idea. One of the most discussed is the ColleagueSkill project, which allows “packaging” an employee’s skills into a special file for AI. After that the system can reproduce the person’s work style. There was also a viral case in China where a dismissed HR specialist was effectively left in the company as a chatbot that continued to answer employee questions. Such cases strongly influenced the perception of the technology because they showed that the line between “assistant” and “replacement” is already beginning to blur.
Why this may change the labor market
Looking more broadly, such technologies can strongly influence the structure of the market. First of all, tasks that are easy to formalize are at risk: customer support, working with documents, basic analytics. Everything that can be described by an algorithm can be transferred to AI. At the same time, complex tasks — creativity, strategy, communication — still remain with people. As a result, the market begins to divide: simple work is automated, complex work becomes more expensive and valuable. This creates the risk of the disappearance of “middle-level” specialists who perform standard functions.
Legal and ethical issues
A separate layer of problems is law and ethics. The question arises: who owns the employee’s data? Can their correspondence and documents be used to train AI without separate consent? In China, laws are already being discussed that should regulate the creation of digital twins and require explicit permission from the person. In Europe and the USA discussions are also ongoing, but clear rules are not yet in place. In addition to the legal side, there is also a moral side: many perceive such technologies as “digitization of personality,” which causes strong resistance.
How people and experts are reacting
The reaction to the trend turned out to be quite emotional. Both jokes and openly alarming comments appear on social networks. People are afraid that their knowledge will be used against them. Experts, in turn, say that the question is no longer whether this is technically possible, but how acceptable it is. Some developers believe that such systems should remain assistants, not replacements. But business, as usual, looks at efficiency, not philosophy, so the development of the technology will continue in any case.
What this means for an ordinary person
If we remove the extra hype, it becomes clear: AI cannot fully replace people yet. But it is already capable of taking over part of the tasks, especially repetitive ones. This means that the value of a person is gradually shifting toward skills that are difficult to formalize. It is important to understand that the data you create in the course of work can be used to train systems. Therefore, more and more people are beginning to consciously consider what information they leave in corporate tools.
Summary: this is only the beginning — the story with AI twins is not a one-time trend but the beginning of a new phase in technology development. Companies are already looking for ways to scale without increasing staff, and such solutions fit perfectly into this logic. At the same time, the rules of the game have not yet been formed, which means there will be many conflicts, disputes and attempts at regulation ahead. The most important thing now is not to ignore this trend but to understand how it works. Because the question is no longer whether such technologies will appear everywhere, but how quickly they will become the norm.
