Do you want your digital twin delivering your lectures?

Join us for an emotionally charged debate into the future of lecturing

Abstract

A digital twin avatar (synthetic self, personalised virtual avatar, AI clone) is created and controlled by the person it represents, aiming to be an ethical use of deepfake technology (Altuncu et al., 2024). In higher education (HE), these avatars can be used to deliver asynchronous video lectures, raising issues around ownership and representation. There are currently no HE policies in Australia that govern the use and control of digital twin lecturers who look and sound like real academics. While digital twins offer benefits such as low-cost and multilingual educational content, deepfakes pose risks including cyberbullying, reputational harm, and academic dishonesty (Roe et al., 2024). The panel will rely on audience input (bring your device) to discuss the pros and cons around the emotionally charged topic of replacing real lecturers with their AI generated digital twins. Draft guidelines for using digital twin lecturers in HE will be presented.